GHOSTBUSTERS 2 POINT 5
by WOLVERINE25TH
Summary: The boys are here to save the world one more time, and this time they're doing it right! Presenting Ghostbusters 2.5!
1. INTRODUCTION

Ghostbusters 2.5 is my attempt to breathe new life into what was considered the damnation of a once prominent franchise. 

As a member of various Ghostbusters boards and a frequent contributor to the Ghostbusters community, I was subjected to a lot of opinions about the various aspects of the franchise. None moreso than the negative comments about Ghostbusters 2. That's when I got the idea to take Ghostbusters 2 and redo it by fixing all the problems that the FANS saw with it. 

So, taking a cue from the release of the X-Men 1.5 DVD where they added more features, I created Ghostbusters 2.5 which is Ghostbusters 2 done right. And that's not bragging there, that's what many satisfied Ghostheads have led me to believe. So, I hope you enjoy it as much as they have. Oh, and as an added bonus, I've included some "deleted scenes" showing the evolution of ideas from concept to final product. 

C Buchner 


	2. WHO YA GONNA CALL?

"One…two…three…roast 'im!" Ray Stantz shouts. He and the other Ghostbusters begin to fire their proton streams down from the roof cap of the Shandor Building on Central Park West at the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man below. All the streams manage to do is set him on fire and really piss him off. Mr. Stay Puft comes towards the building and blows hard, sending the flames from his gooey body up at the Ghostbusters. They pull back and find some cover somewhere near the temple of Gozer. 

"Funny us going out like this, killed by a 100 foot marshmallow man," Ray states, depressed. 

"We're going about this all wrong. This Mr. Stay Puft's okay, he's a sailor, he's in New York…we get this guy laid we won't have any trouble," Peter Venkman says, trying to reassure his comrades. 

Meanwhile, Mr. Stay Puft grabs a hold of the side of the building, climbing up towards his goal of destroying the Ghostbusters. The terrified populace in the streets below scream loud enough to wake the dead as they attempt to flee. 

"I have a radical idea," Egon Spengler declares. "The door swings both ways, we could reverse the particle flow through the gate." 

"How?" Ray asks. 

"We'll cross the streams," Egon says hesitantly. Their eyes grow wide. 

"'Scuse me Egon, you said crossing the streams was bad!" Peter exclaims. 

"Cross the streams…" Ray says, realizing their situation has just gone from bad to worse. 

"You're gonna endanger us, you're gonna endanger our client…the nice lady who paid us in advance before she became a dog." 

"Not necessarily. There's definitely a very slim chance we'll survive," Egon informs them. Winston Zeddemore rolls his eyes back, questioning their sanity at this point. Peter slaps Egon, putting on a happy face. 

"I love this plan! I'm excited to be a part of it! Let's do it!" He gets up and leads the charge as the others follow him. They run up to the stairs of the temple and Ray and Peter fire their proton streams. 

"Let's turn 'em on, Spengler!" Ray shouts. Egon and Winston fire their streams. The four of them bring the barrels of their positron rifles together, causing the streams to wrap around each other creating one large stream. They cut their streams and run off to the sides as the temple in front of them explodes, taking out the entire roof and the top three floors of the building, as well as the Marshmallow Man. 

**Five years later.**

New York City's sidewalks have to cope with the rumble of heavy vehicles and foot traffic. As a result, cracks and holes are not an unusual sight to see. What is unusual, however, is a pink substance oozing out of one particular crack. It gathers in a small pool on top of it until two stroller wheels run through it accidentally. 

Dana Barrett struggles to hold her very full bag of groceries with one arm as she maneuvers the baby buggy with the other in front of her. Inside the old fashioned buggy lies her 9 month old son, Oscar, peacefully sleeping on the warm New York winter's day. Dana makes her way down 77th street towards her building. She passes by a man yelling at a traffic cop over getting a parking ticket. A few feet away, a man runs into a girl on crutches and keeps on going with her yelling obscenities after him. Dana shakes her head as she pulls up under the awning to her building where her super speaks with his assistant. 

"Hello, Frank," Dana says pleasantly as she puts the locks on the buggy's wheels. The super turns to her as his assistant heads off to perform his duties. Frank is a middle-aged portly man with a thick mustache. He smiles at Dana, one of his more favorite tenants. 

"Hey there, Ms. Barrett." 

"Think you could help me with these?" she asks, handing off her grocery bag to him while she reaches for the other one in the buggy next to Oscar. 

"Hey, I ain't the doorman, Ms. Barrett, I'm the building superintendent." 

"You're also a human being, Frank," she says with a smirk, handing him a second bag. Frank sighs with reluctance. 

"Okay, it ain't my job, but what the hell, I'll do you a favor." 

"Thanks. Oh, and listen, when do you think you'll get to check out the radiator in the baby's room? I asked you about it last week," Dana says as she digs through her purse. Neither one of them is aware of the buggy's brakes slowly being lifted up and the buggy beginning to move away from them slightly. 

"Didn't I do that?" Frank asks, baffled. 

"No, it's getting really cold in there and I…I…" Dana starts, but when she looks up she notices something off and looks at her baby in the buggy. "Well, hey, it's no problem…" Frank starts, staring at her as she stares at the baby. Oscar sits in the buggy awake now, bundled up in a jacket, hood, hat and blanket, blissfully unaware of the world. Dana was starting to think she was imagining things until the buggy began to roll down the street on its own. Within seconds, her coat flaps behind her as she takes off after it at full speed. "Hey, stop that carriage!" she shouts at some movers a few doors down. Two of them look up the street and drop the rug they were carrying in on their shoulders. They make a lunge for the buggy, but it swerves out of the way and into the street. Dana covers her face briefly as she runs, too scared to look but determined to catch up. 

It swerves to avoid an oncoming car whose driver slams on the brakes and blares the horn. It moves around a double parked car and swerves out of the way of a taxi. It rolls back towards the curb, causing a fast food delivery boy to fall off his bike as it hops back up onto the sidewalk. Dana makes a dive for the buggy's handle, but misses and falls flat on her face. She pushes herself back up and resumes chase, running past a dog walker and his herd of dogs barking after her and the buggy. 

The buggy rolls onto First Avenue, crossing the intersection against the light. Cars begin to swerve as their startled drivers struggle not to hit it. The buggy stops just inches before a passing bus would hit it. Dana runs up to the buggy, terrified, and looks at her baby, gurgling happily having enjoyed the ride. She picks him up and looks him over, and seeing he's alright holds him close to her, scared to let him go again.

* * *

**GHOSTBUSTERS 2.5**

* * *

_REEEEERRREEEEEERRREEEEEERRR_

Ecto-1 is a familiar sight on the streets of New York these days. A beautiful 1959 Cadillac ambulance/hearse combination, she runs like it was her first day off the assembly line. Of course, it took a lot elbow grease and determination to get her there, but the efforts were obviously well worth it. 

In the world of science and technology, nothing is static. It constantly evolves as new discoveries are made and things are made simpler focusing in on the dream of a futuristic 21st century. The Ectomobile was a technological marvel unto itself the day she first rolled out of the firehouse to the now famous Sedgewick Hotel bust, and as time has gone on she continues to be. 

The roof rack positioned on the center of the roof has been greatly modified. All the various antennae and detection sensors have been condensed into a small radar dish on its left side and a small rotating dome antenna in the center of the rear. The strobe light has been removed to make room for a spinning red light in front of the dish and an A/C unit that keeps a sample refrigerator in the back functional next to that. Running along the right side of the top is a red electrical power tube for quick on-site charging. The empty space behind the A/C unit is an access panel for extra storage within the rack itself. 

Wire bundles in tubing run up from the equipment inside the rear to the equipment on the roof from the driver's side. Two yellow tanks of compressed air still adorn the driver's side of the roof rack while on the other side is a longer storage tube. That ladder that ran from the back of the rack down the passenger's side had been removed to make room for an upward extension that now supports a rectangular light bar that flashes white and blue in various programmed patterns. 

On the front of the rack is a silver propane tank. Positioned in front of that is the same round rotating red light and strobe. However, over the passenger's side the siren had been removed and relocated behind the grille and replaced with a speaker for a bullhorn or a P/A system. On either end of the roof, the blue light bars' chrome center section had been taken out and replaced with an additional section of rotators, while the flashers still remain intact. 

However, more than the roof has changed over her five years of service; the body has undergone some modifications as well. Though still white, accenting the brilliant red fins and trimmed in chrome, Ecto-1's body sports a bit more color. Running down both sides and along the tops of every door are black and yellow reflective caution tape, resembling the design of the ghost trap doors. Above the wheel on the top of the front fender in red cursive are signs that read "Call Us." Along the sides of the rear quarter panels are signs that read "Ghostbusters: 212-NO-GHOST." The grille strobes, no-ghost logos and fender search light still remain, but the mirrors have been replaced with rectangular mirrors like those seen on tractor trailers. The hubcaps have also gone from the classic '59 Cadillac style to baby moons. 

Ecto-1 pulls up outside the building on Central Park West and the Ghostbusters emerge. They stand by the car and look up at the building in front of them. Reitman Manor has stood vacant for decades. Once the proud home of New York's oldest, wealthiest family until the early 20th Century, it now is a shambles. Almost every window in the place is broken; some frames are knocked out entirely. The roof caps of the mansions' towers are stripped; all that remains are their beams. The decorative arches around the base are covered in dirt and grime from exposure to the elements and pollution of the city. 

"Nice place," Peter comments, "very homey." 

"Well, better get to work. Have to clear the place out so the city can sell it at auction," Ray says as he heads to the back of Ecto-1. He opens the door and reaches in, sliding out the proton pack rack. They each grab a pack and help each other slip them on. Ray reaches back into the car and pulls out two ghost traps and his ecto-goggles. He slides the rack back in and shuts the door. "Shall we?" They start up the path towards the entrance of the mansion. 

The inside has fared no better than the outside. Ravaged by exposure to the elements and various insects, the wooden floors have rotted and are falling apart, the master staircase looks about ready to crumble, and whatever furniture was left inside has collapsed into almost nothing. Cobwebs run all along the walls and ceilings, and layers of dust cover everything. 

"Well, if there's a ghost here, they certainly picked a good place to haunt," Winston says, looking around as he draws his positron rifle off his pack. Egon holds up his PKE meter and the wings extend outward fully, the lights on them blinking rapidly. 

"There's definitely something here," he tells them. 

"Alright, boys, let's clean house," Ray says, pulling down his goggles and grabbing his positron rifle. They split up; Winston and Peter head upstairs while Egon and Ray head off in opposite directions to adjacent rooms. Winston and Peter make it up to the landing and look around the floor. Winston steps down and a floorboard loudly squeaks under him, cutting through the silence in the house. Both men jump. 

"Geeze, Winston!" Peter exclaims. 

"Sorry," he says. "So, which room do you wanna take?" he asks, looking at the doorways to various rooms. 

"Howabout whichever magically transports me to the Miami Beach?" Peter quips. Neither man notices two translucent hands reaching down and tightly clutching the tattered hall rug below them. With a hard yank, the carpet comes up, sending Winston and Peter flipping onto the floor. 

"What the hell!" Peter asks. They look back to see a headless ghost wearing a Civil War uniform by the stairs. The ghost waves, then leaps down through the floor. "A ghost with a sense of humor…fantastic!" Peter gripes as he and Winston scramble to their feet and run back to the stairs to pursue it. 

Egon moves around in what was once a music room. A fireplace stands off against one wall while the remains of a grand piano across the way. The tattered drapes cover the windows, preventing most of the light outside from coming in. He follows his PKE meter, watching its screen intently. He stops when he notices the ghost coming through the ceiling and "landing" on the piano. 

Egon quickly reaches back and grabs his positron rifle. He takes aim and fires a proton stream. The ghost leaps off, allowing the stream to hit the piano and causing it to explode into a pile of wood and dust. Egon spins as the ghost lands on the floor behind him. He fires, and the ghost dives through the wall, causing the beam to hit the floor and blowing a hole through it. However, due to the age and deterioration of the floor, it causes a chain reaction that makes the floor under Egon collapse with it. 

"WOAH!" he shouts as he catches the edges of the hole he created with his hands. He looks down to the dark basement below, not sure of how far a drop he would have. Winston and Peter run into the room and see Egon's fingers sticking up out of the hole. 

"Egon!" Peter exclaims. They run over to the hole and reach down; grabbing Egon's arms and hoisting him back up. 

"Thanks," he says, adjusting his glasses. "This building is highly unstable. I'm afraid our random proton discharges may have an adverse effect on it." 

"You ain't kidding," Peter says, whistling at the hole. 

"I suggest making sure every shot counts. I don't think we can afford any strays." Suddenly, the wall behind them explodes as Ray's proton stream flies through it. They duck as pieces of plaster and dust land on them. The ghost flies through the chaos as Ray enters the room from the other doorway. He stops short just before he falls into the hole. He looks up and sees the others giving him a dirty look. 

"Oh…sorry. Slippery thing, ain't he?" Winston's eyes grow wide. 

"Ray! Duck!" Ray drops to the floor just as the ghost flies by overhead, almost hitting him with a large, dusty urn. Ray looks up and fires; blasting more of the wall away as the ghost avoids his stream. Peter stands up and spins, opening fire and catching the ghost as it flies past them. The stream wraps around the ghost as it struggles to break free. 

"HA! Got you, you son of a bitch!" Peter laughs, shortening his stream to reel the ghost in close. 

"Z!" Ray shouts, tossing Winston one of the traps. Winston catches it sends it out under where Peter holds the headless ghost. 

"Hold him steady, Peter!" Winston says as he drops the trap's pedal by his foot. 

"Comin' at yaaaaaaaaaaaaaow!" Peter screams. They all look at him strangely until they see the ghost's head chomping away at his ankle. Peter looks down and yelps out in pain again. "OW! Get it off! Get it off!" 

"Egon, comin' at ya!" Ray says, running around the hole over to Peter. He holds down his rifle and swings it like a golf club, knocking the head off Peter's leg. The head flies up through the air, and Egon fires, catching it in midair. He turns and joins his stream with Peter's. Winston slams the pedal with his foot, causing the black and yellow striped doors to open and a column of light to come out. The Ghostbusters all turn away, shielding their eyes from the intense light as both parts of the ghost are sucked down and into the trap. The doors shut, and the indicators light up showing that the trap is full. 

"Got 'em!" Winston states. 

"Haha! Guess he shoulda quit while he was… a head! Huh?" Ray asks, laughing. The others all roll their eyes at him. 

"Ray, leave the comedy to the professionals," Peter says, placing a hand on his shoulder. Suddenly, they hear a large groan throughout the building. 

"Oh, come on! It wasn't THAT bad!" Ray exclaims. 

"Wasn't us, man," Winston informs him. They look up as dust falls out of the ceiling. The section of wall Ray decimated crumbles to the ground as the house begins to shake violently. 

"Uh oh!" Egon exclaims. 

"Move it!" Peter shouts. The Ghostbusters scramble back towards the front door as a support beam crashes through the ceiling and the floor. One by one they run out the front door as the mansion crumbles around them. They dive down on the grass as the house collapses, sending up a cloud of dust as it disappears into a pile of rubble. 

As the dust begins to settle, a crowd has gathered on the street looking at the mess. The Ghostbusters cough as they raise their heads, looking back towards the massive pile of wood, plaster and stone. Egon, Peter and Winston all turn to look at Ray who smiles sheepishly. 

"Ooops," he says with a shrug. Egon shakes his head as Peter looks at him. 

"Maybe we should give the city a discount," he suggests.

* * *

The Manhattan Museum of Art sits on the southern tip of Manhattan Island. It in itself is a work of art with decorative columns and statues adorning the façade all around. One either side of the massive staircase leading up to the front door are four statues representing different peoples of the world. 

The Restoration Room inside the museum is large and equally as beautiful as the outside. Ornamental support columns are positioned throughout the room, and a grand marble archway marks the entrance into the room. Ornamental brass gates hang open inside the arches allowing people to move in and out of the room. Artists sit at various work stations all around working on different projects. Two men enter the room, wheeling in a very large painting. On the canvas stands a man with a fierce scowl on his face in strong armor with protruding shoulder pads and silver skull decorations on various parts. He keeps one hand on his hip while the other rests on a stone pedestal of some sort. A sinister looking castle is off in the background amongst a barren wasteland, and the yellow tone of the paints gives it an extra feeling of foreboding. 

Dr. Janosz Poha is a fairly young man, but his age doesn't hinder his brilliance. A prominent art historian and painter, he was made head of the Restoration Department at the museum. He has a passion for the art rivaled by no other alive today, but his co-workers find him a little quirky and intense. Some would go as far as to say creepy. 

"Now, put Prince Vigo over there in the arches," Janosz directs the men moving the painting in his Eastern European accent. Satisfied that Vigo is safely being placed under the ornamental archway, he turns towards his employees and begins to walk past them, looking over their work. 

"Everything you are doing is bad, I vant you to know this," he tells one woman working on a painting. He looks over at an older man working with an old frame. "You be careful there!" he says. The older man shoots him the dirtiest look, basically questioning how a jackass like him got to become head of his own department. He shakes it off and goes back to his work as Janosz approaches Dana's station. "And how are you doing?" 

"Oh, just fine; this mixture you gave me is working great," Dana says as she dabs at the old masterpiece on her easel, bringing its color back to its former glory. 

"Vell, I do mix a great cocktail," Janosz says, jokingly. He moves behind Dana to get a better look at her work…and her. Ever since she began working at the museum and in his department, Janosz had felt an instant attraction. So far, she has resisted all his attempts, but he was determined to succeed. She, on the other hand, was determined to try and not run away from him screaming every time she saw him. "Yes, you are doing really quite good work there." 

"Thank you," Dana says, wishing he'd leave. Janosz, while checking Dana out, notices a piece of cotton caught in her curly hair. 

"Maybe it won't be long before you can…assist me on larger projects," he says, reaching out and removing the cotton. As Dana feels his fingers in her hair, she begins to panic, not knowing what to do. She turns around, ready to slug him if need be, but he holds up the cotton and sends relief through her body. 

"Well, thank you, Dr. Poha…" 

"Janosz," he corrects her. 

"…Janosz. I've enjoyed working here, but now that my baby's a little older I was going to try and go back to the orchestra," she says, cleaning off her brush with some water and cotton set up on the table next to her. 

"Oh, I am sorry to hear that…that you vill not…not be not here. Vell, how to say goodbye? Maybe I could, uh, I could bring you to a brunch today or…" Dana smiles politely, wondering when he will leave. 

"Well, I can't today, I have an appointment…" As she cleans off her brush, she angles her wrist to look at her watch. "…in fact, I better go!" She puts her brush down and stands up, reaching over for her coat and scarf. 

"I don't understand it, every day I say vell Dana can you do something and every day you say no I can't…vhat, do I have bad breath or something?" 

"No, of course not," she says, her smile fading as she turns for the door and starts off quickly. 

"Vell, I'll give you a rain check!" he calls after her. He walks over to his work area with a big smile on his face. He stops next to the painting of Vigo and stares at the doorway for a few moments. "I think that she likes me, I do I truly do." He steps away and goes around his desk to his chair, blissfully unaware that Vigo's face has suddenly become three-dimensional and was following his every move. 


	3. SHADOWS OF THE PAST

The firehouse is an old building on N. Moore Street in Manhattan's Tribeca area. Shut down years ago, it was allowed to gradually deteriorate until the Ghostbusters saw it and Ray fell in love with it. Since then, the no ghost logo has proudly hung outside above the door, gently swaying in the breeze. 

The reception area sits directly in front of the main office area at the back of the first floor garage bay. A filing cabinet stands against the wooden rail that splits the two areas. In front of that is the reception desk; your basic wood desk covered in papers with a computer, printer, and telephone with multiple lines. 

Janine Melnitz sits in the chair behind the desk. A native of Queens, she came highly recommended to the Ghostbusters by her agency when they first opened and needed a secretary. Although Venkman would most likely dispute that fact, her service has often been above and beyond. She currently enjoys one of the rare moments of downtime in this hectic business by leaning back in her chair, reading a woman's magazine article about attracting the oblivious male. 

She drops her magazine down a bit and looks over her large glasses as the small TV she had set up on her desk. The commercial had just ended and the image fades in back to the show. The set is modestly decorated with a rounded wall that says "World of the Psychic" and three chairs. In the left one is a pudgy man in a brown suit, sweating under the hot studio lights. In the right one, an average looking woman sits, looking around nervously. In the middle chair is a familiar red-haired person to Janine. In the center chair sits Walter Peck, former agent of the Environmental Protection Agency. 

Five years ago, he had a vendetta against the Ghostbusters for some strange reason, using the Environmental Protection Act as his weapon to try and shut them down. He used all his leverage and favors to get a warrant that allowed him to enter the ground and shut down the containment unit, the final storage area for trapped ghosts, in the building's basement. The resulting explosion led to a mass haunting all across the city and gave sufficient power to the demigod Gozer the Gozarian to open a doorway into our world. 

"Welcome back to World of the Psychic. I'm Walter Peck," he says to the cameras, forcing an obviously fake smile. His eyes give away his true feelings over his current status as a B-level talk show host. "Today, I'm chatting with my guest author, lecturer and psychic Milton Angland. I believe you have a new book coming out?" 

"Yes I do, Walter. It's called '_The End of the World_'." 

"Can you tell us anything about it?" 

"Well, it basically tells how I predict that the world will end at the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve." 

"This year?" Peck asks, trying to hide his disbelieving look. 

"That's correct." 

"HA!" Janine scoffs at the TV. 

"Now, that is interesting. My other guest, however, may disagree with you," Peck says, turning towards the woman. "Elaine, I believe you have another date to share with our viewers at home." 

"According to my source," she starts in a shy voice, "the world will end on February 14 in the year 2016." 

"And who is your source?" 

"I received this information from an alien." Peck felt like bashing his own brains in just then. What has he sunk to? "As I told my husband, I was at the Holiday Inn in Paramus, I was having a drink at the bar and this alien approached me. He started talking to me; he bought me a drink. And then I think he must've used some kind of a ray 'cause he forced me to follow him to his room…and that's where he told me about the end of the world." 

"So…your alien…had a room at the Holiday Inn?" Peck asks, trying to get a grasp around the insanity. 

"It could've been a room on the spaceship made up to look like a room at the Holiday Inn. I can't be too sure about that." 

"Of course not, honey. You're too far gone for that," Janine chuckles, turning off the TV as the garage bay doors open. Ecto-1 pulls in and the doors begin to shut behind it. 

"This is interesting, Ray," Egon says as he gets out of the car, looking at a device in his hand. 

"What is?" Ray asks, shutting the front door and carrying the smoking ghost trap as he chomps on a cigar. 

"There seems to be a spike in the PKE levels in the city." 

"What's that mean?" Winston asks, removing his cigarette from his mouth. 

"I don't know. Yet. I'm going to analyze the data in the lab." Janine stands in front of her desk, leaning back on it and flashing a big smile as Egon passes her, heading for the stairs. 

"Hi, Egon," she says. 

"Janine, I have an appointment today. Can you tell me when she gets here please?" Egon says, never taking his eyes off his device as he begins to ascend the stairs. Peter steps up to her as she folds her arms, glaring after Egon as he disappears onto the second floor. 

"Don't mind him. He's usually in a mood when a building almost falls on him," he says, handing her a receipt for the job as Winston and Ray head past them towards the basement stairs to deposit their catch in the containment unit. She snatches the paper from him and storms back around her desk. 

"Hmph! Men!" Peter shrugs and starts over for the office area. 

"Hey, where's Poindexter?" he asks, motioning to the empty desk of their accountant, Louis Tully. Louis was another victim of the Shandor Building bust five years ago, possessed by Vinz Clortho, the Keymaster of Gozer. Since losing his apartment in the blast that saved the city, Louis had relocated his accounting practice to the firehouse. 

"Louis went to get some food for us," Janine says, angrily entering the information on the receipt into the computer. Peter continues on his way into the office. 

The firehouse door opens and a tall, balding man in a suit steps in, carrying a briefcase. He walks through the garage bay, his shoes echoing loudly in the cavernous area. Janine looks up from her computer as he walks towards her desk. 

"Can I help…" she starts, but he simply breezes past and into the office area where Peter reclines in his chair with his feet up on the desk, reading the newspaper. He looks up as the man places his briefcase on the desk by his feet. 

"Can I help you?" 

"My name's Jack Hardemeyer, I'm the mayor's assistant," he answers. 

"And what can I do for you, Jacko?" Peter asks, folding the paper and putting it on the desk. 

"Well, _Dr._ Venkman, I have something for you," he says as he flips open the locks on his briefcase and reaches inside of it. He pulls out some papers and hands them to Peter. Peter takes them and looks through them. 

"Funny, this doesn't look like a check," Peter says sarcastically. Hardemeyer laughs. 

"On the contrary, it's an injunction. You and your friends are now on probation with the city of New York. If, during any of your group's activities you should cause any damage to New York City public property, you will be brought up on charges and your so-called business effectively shut down." Peter throws the papers on the desk. 

"Hey, the mansion wasn't our fault. You wanna blame someone, blame the termites," Peter says innocently. 

"You were sent, for God knows what reason, to get rid of the problem inside Reitman Manor. Instead, you got rid of Reitman Manor. The mayor was anything but happy. Fortunately, it worked out that the interested party was going to demolish the building anyway, and that's why the mayor had instructed me to deliver this final warning to you instead of just shutting you down now." Peter could detect the condescending tone whenever he mentioned their job. He definitely doesn't like this little bureaucratic weasel. 

"So, how come Lenny didn't come by and tell us this himself? We're old friends, ya know, I would've loved to have seen him and given him a kiss," Peter says, flashing a sweet smile, trying to hide his true feelings. Hardemeyer closes his briefcase and picks it up. 

"Because the mayor is running for governor next fall, and the last thing he needs is to be seen with two-bit publicity hounds like you and your friends. Good day." With that, he turns and heads back down the garage bay. Peter stands up, looking after him. 

"Hey, I'm a voter! Aren't you supposed to lie to me and kiss my ass?" Peter walks over to the filing cabinet and leans on it, looking over the top. "The nerve of some people, huh? Think they can march in here like they own the…place…" Janine looks up at him curiously as he stops his sentence, and then follows his gaze to the front doors. She stands up to look over Ecto-1 and sees Dana standing by them. She smiles nervously as she sees Peter staring at her. 

"Dana…" he whispers.

* * *

Upstairs, Dana sits in a chair as she tells the Ghostbusters her story. Egon sits in front of her on the couch, listening intently as he munches on some Ding Dongs. Winston sits next to him, enjoying a beer. Behind them, Ray stands with his arms folded, a thoughtful expression on his face. Peter leans against a desk with a bookcase on top of it, away from the rest and uncharacteristically quiet. 

He stares at her, thoughts racing through his head a mile a minute as all his old feelings come barreling up to the surface. Dana was the first woman he ever really loved. When she left him years ago, he was devastated. He hid it, of course, behind his usual sarcastic wit and playboy antics, but the hurt was always there. Now, here she was, back in his life once again. 

"…and then it went right out into the middle of traffic, and I really started running after it, and then it suddenly just stopped right in the middle of the street," Dana finishes. 

"And did anyone else see this?" Egon asks. 

"Of course, hundreds of people. Egon, I didn't imagine this." 

"I'm not saying you did, it's just in science we always look for the simplest explanation." Ray gets and idea and heads over to the table where Peter leans. He pulls out a book from a shelf and flips through it. 

"Ah ha! I knew I heard this before!" he exclaims, finding his page. "1939 East Berlin, a flower cart took off on its own and ran for half a kilometer with 300 witnesses." 

"You should also check Duke University's mean averaging studies on controlled psychokinesis," Egon suggests to him. Ray nods and begins digging through the books. 

"What does that mean?" Dana asks, confused. Peter hops up from his spot and walks over to them. He decides it's time to take some action, show Dana she made a mistake by leaving him. 

"What it means is we're going to take your case and see what's up, right guys?" 

"Yeah, of course," Ray says. 

"Absolutely," Egon agrees. 

"Great. So, what say me, Ray and Egon all head over to your place and see what we can find, and Winston can handle some of the lighter calls until we get back. How's that sound?" 

"Uh, yeah, works for me," Winston says, shrugging. 

"Alright then, let's get moving," Peter says, clapping his hands together. He heads out of the room with Ray and Winston following him. Dana stands up, but gently grabs Egon's arm as he begins to head out. 

"Egon, can I talk to you for a moment?" 

"Sure." Dana nervously walks back into the sitting area, Egon looking after her. She didn't think it would happen, but when she saw Peter downstairs, all her old feelings came rushing back and hit her like an anvil. Now, having sat in the same room with him for this long, it was almost unbearable. However, she was sure Peter was over her by now. After all, she didn't exactly give him much reason not to. But, it doesn't hurt to check…right? 

"I was just wondering, how has Peter been?" Egon looks her over. 

"Well, he was border lined for a while. Then he crossed the border." Dana turns away, smiling and blushing as the next question comes to her mind. 

"Does he ever…mention me?" 

"No," Egon says frankly. Her smile quickly fades. 

"Well, we didn't part on very good terms. I had thought about getting in touch with him after my marriage ended, but…" She shakes her head and turns back to him, smiling. "I appreciate you guys taking my case like this. I know you must be busy." 

"Try not to worry," Egon says, reassuringly. He steps aside and lets her head out before him.

* * *

Dana turns the key in the lock and opens the door, letting her, Ray, Egon and Peter inside. They look around her place. It's a small apartment with modest furnishings, perfect for a single mother. 

"I'm home!" she calls as she removes her coat. From the kitchen, a young woman emerges carrying Oscar. She heads over to them and hands Oscar over to Dana as the guys look around her place. "So, where would you like to start?" 

"We'd like to examine the baby first," Egon says. 

"And anything associated with the baby," Ray adds, "you know, stuffed toys, anything with fabric, and wherever he sleeps." She leads them over into the dining room. 

"And then we'd like to examine the buggy." 

"How's over here?" she asks, motioning to the dining room table. 

"Here's fine," Ray says, pulling a mat onto the table as Dana lays him down on it. "Just lay him down flat." 

"Okay, sweetheart, they're just going to take a look at you," she says softly to the baby. 

"We'll do a cursory medical examination," Egon states as he and Ray removes their coats. 

"Nothing that's gonna hurt him, right?" Dana asks. 

"No, no. I don't think so. He'll be fine." Egon assures her as he pulls a wire whisk out of the case he was carrying and sets it on the other side of the table. 

Meanwhile, Peter looks around the place, admiring all the little girly touches like statues and porcelain animals and pink wallpaper. He throws his coat over onto the couch as he moves towards the corner of the living room. He sees her cello standing in the corner by a chair and music stand, and decides to have some fun. He picks it up and puts his foot up on the chair. He rests the cello on it and curls up his lip as he begins to strum out a blues riff on the strings. 

Dana rolls her eyes and she leaves Oscar with the other two as she walks into the living room area. Ray leans in close to Egon. 

"Have you ever done this before?" he whispers. 

"On a chimp," Egon answers. Dana approaches Peter, giving him a look. Peter just keeps on playing. 

"So, what happened to Mr. Right? I heard he ditched ya and ran off to Europe." She takes the cello out of his hands. 

"He didn't ditch me," she corrects as she moves past him to replace the cello on its stand. "We had some problems and he got a very good job offer from an orchestra in London so he took it." 

"So, he ditched ya," Peter says again, grabbing a small plastic snow globe off the nearby bookshelf. He holds it upside down to let all the "snow" inside gather at the top as she turns around to give him an agitated look. 

Ray leans down on the table holding a tape recorder in his hands next to the baby. He presses the record button and begins to speak. 

"Subject is a male Caucasian, approximately…" Egon holds up an extendable ruler next to the baby, raising it to the right height. 

"24 inches," he tells Ray. 

"…24 inches in length. Subject weighs approximately 18 pounds and is about 8 months old. Okay, ocular?" Egon crouches down onto the floor and pulls out a small penlight and waves it in front of the baby's face and into his eyes. 

"Pupilary response normal," he states, standing back up. 

"Auditory?" Ray sets the recorder down and he and Egon begin snapping their fingers next to both of Oscar's ears. The baby looks towards each one after they snap curiously. 

"Normal," Egon declares. Ray picks the recorder back up and resumes his position. 

"Capillary?" He sets the recorder down again and he and Egon proceed to raise Oscar's arms. They begin to tickle his sides, causing a whistle to escape from his mouth. 

"Appears to be ticklish," Egon says. 

"Yup, baby ticklish." 

"You know, you would've been better off marrying me?" Peter asks, holding up the snow globe in front of his face as he looks at Dana through it, letting the "snow" flutter all around inside. Dana smirks and takes a couple steps closer to him. 

"You never asked me," she informs him, "and every time I brought it up you'd get drowsy and fall asleep." Peter blinks at her, and then replaces the globe back on the bookcase. He turns and walks towards the center of the room. 

"You never got it, Dana…I'm a man! I'm sensitive! I need to be loved, I need to be desired!" She comes up behind him and places her hands on his shoulders. 

"It's when you started introducing me as the old ball and chain, that's when I left." Peter clenches his eyes, not believing that stupid move he pulled. She begins to move back into the dining room, but Peter runs past her to cut her off. 

"Well, I may have a lot of personal problems but I'm a total professional when it comes to my job." He heads over to the table. Egon has on headgear that resembles a stethoscope connected to a rod. He holds it down over the baby's heart as Ray sweeps the PKE meter over him. "Egon." Egon looks up, and Peter pulls his head back to avoid being hit by the thing on his head. 

"What?" he asks. Peter leans in close to the end. 

"What're we doing?" he asks into it, making Egon jump over the loud volume. He takes the headgear off and puts it away. 

"He seems to be fine, Dana." 

"Yes, he's very healthy." 

"When he does sleep, where do you put him?" Ray asks. 

"I'll show you." She leads Ray out of the room as Egon produces a sample dish from the bag and hands it to Peter. 

"Venkman, would you get a stool sample please?" He picks up a device and follows after Ray and Dana. Peter stand there with the dish, looking down at the baby curiously, really not looking forward to his task. 

"Business or personal?" he jokes. 

Dana walks into the baby's room and the other two follow. It's your typical baby's room with toys and stuffed animals all over the place. A crib sits against one wall while the changing table is on another. A dresser littered with plastic toys is against the farther wall and various mobiles hang down from the ceiling. 

"Sorry, it's a bit messy," Dana says, picking up a ring-toss game from the floor. 

"Well, that's okay, we don't want to play with anything," Ray tells her as he picks up a stuffed stegosaurus and runs the PKE over it. 

"Very cheerful. My parents didn't believe in toys," Egon states as he holds up the device in his hand. It's a rectangular object with a round top. Purple and green lights swirl in the bottom of the top potion while data appears on the screen on the opposite side. Two little wings flap apart and together at the very top, flashing with purple lights. 

"Egon, what is that thing?" Dana asks. 

"This is a Giga meter I've been developing. It measures psychokinetic energy in GEVs, or Giga electron volts. I designed it to have a broader detection spectrum than the standard PKE." 

"Oh," Dana says, raising an eyebrow, not really wanting Egon to go into it any further. 

Peter looks down at Oscar, smiling. Oscar just stares back up at him. "So…wanna play with a big kid?" he asks. The baby just kicks his legs. Peter's smile fades a bit as he looks at the baby. Suddenly, he finds regret becoming his predominant emotion. "You know, I should've been your father. I could've been." He holds out his hand and the baby holds up his. Peter takes it and shakes it as he coos. "I understand," he says. He picks Oscar up and begins to make him "dance" in midair, making noises as they move around the room. He brings Oscar close and positions his nose by his mouth. "Help, the baby's gone completely berserk! Help!" he says, joking. 

Inside the baby's room, Egon and Ray exchange a glance. 

"Uh-oh," they both say as Dana heads out of the room to see what the commotion's about. Egon shakes a rattle by his ear as Ray steps over to him, still holding the dinosaur. 

"So, you never even had a slinky?" he asks. 

"I had part of a slinky. But I straightened it," Egon tells him. 

Dana enters the dining room to find Peter still shouting for his life into Oscar's belly as he holds him above his head. When he hears Dana lightly laughing behind him, he quickly brings the baby down and looks at her. 

"Uh, he has some sort of clear liquid coming from his mouth there." 

"Yes he does," Dana agrees, taking Oscar's bib and dabbing the drool off of his chin. "Well, what do you think?" Dana asks as Peter sits on the table. 

"Well, he's ugly. He's not Elephant Man ugly, but he's not attractive. Was his father ugly?" 

"Don't listen," Dana tells Oscar with a smile as she strokes his head. 

"And he stinks." He picks the baby up and says "You're right, senior!" in a fake Spanish accent. The baby laughs in his hands. "Did his father stink?" he asks Dana. "Yeah, daddy was smelly, huh? What's your name?" he asks the baby. 

"His name is Oscar." 

"Named after a hotdog, you poor man! You poor, poor man!" 

"But seriously, there's nothing…unusual about him, is there?" 

"Well, I don't have a lot of experience with babies." He pauses when he realizes that in holding the baby, he wishes he had. He quickly shakes himself back to reality. "But, you're excited now because momma's here to get your stool sample, right momma?" 

"Stool…sample?" she asks confused as Peter lays Oscar back down on the table. 

Peter enters the baby's room as Ray sticks his head out from under the crib where he was taking readings. 

"Nothing!" he calls. Egon sits on the changing table, shaking his head as he tries to figure out what could have caused the stroller to behave like it did. 

"So, what now, Braniac?" Peter asks. Egon stands up and turns to him. 

"I'd like to run some gynecological tests on the mother." Peter shrugs. 

"Who wouldn't?" Egon rolls his eyes, then motions with his head for Ray to follow him out of the room. 

"Let's check the street, he says." He and Peter leave as Ray slips out from under the crib.

* * *

On the corner of First Avenue, Ray and Egon check their respective instruments as they look for readings. 

"It stopped right over there, across the street," Dana tells them, pointing to the spot. They look as the street is full of midday traffic, showing no signs of letting up. 

"Now what?" Ray asks. 

"I can get us over there," Peter says, stepping off the curb and into the street. 

"Huh? Venkman! Hey, Venkman!" Ray looks at Egon who shrugs and begins to follow him. Peter casually walks across the intersection, holding up his hand as he directs traffic with the other. Cars honk as they try to get around them, and drivers curse as they pass by. 

"'Scuse us, scientists coming through! One side, please! Thank you very much! Woah, go around please!" He jogs over to the spot just before a cab near it begins to move and stands in front of it. 

"Hey, you mind moving out of the way, asshole!" the driver demands. 

"Hey, relax, you're on the meter," Peter responds as he continues ushering traffic past. Egon and Peter move over to the spot and crouch down, checking their devices and finding much to their excitement that they're full of life. 

"Woooooah, I think we hit the honey pot! There's something brewing under the street, I got 1-1-18 on the PKE!" Ray exclaims. 

"2.5 GEVs on the Giga meter," Egon adds. Dana looks at them, curiously. 

"Well, what does that mean?" she asks. Egon and Ray exchange a glance. 


	4. CRIME AND PUNISHMENT

Egon grits his teeth as he feels the very core of his body vibrating within, thanks to a great deal to the jackhammer he holds later that night. The jackhammer pounds away at the pavement over the spot their instruments lead them on First Avenue. The site is made up to look like a typical construction site so as to throw off suspicion. Barricades behind him flash with amber warning lights, directing traffic to merge out of that lane into the next. The compressor powering the jackhammer sits by the second barricade, while behind Egon is a winch and pulley system in bars shaped like a pyramid. 

Egon wears work boots and slacks with thick work gloves, a flannel shirt and a reflective orange vest; a departure from his usual suits for the sake of appearance. His hardhat remarkably stays in place, though his superior can't fathom how as he feels sure his fillings will need replacement in the near future. A police car pulls up just outside the perimeter of torn up street and stops, the driving officer honking the horn. Egon stops hammering and looks around puzzled, until he sees the other cop hanging out of the passenger window. 

"Hey! How ya doing?" he asks. Egon feels his heart begin to race. Ray has a boyish charm, able to win over even the most stonehearted of aggressors. Venkman has a quick wit and a sharp mind that rivals that of any used car salesman in the Tri-State Area. Egon was pure logic. Ask him to work on time travel, find the missing link in the evolutionary chain or master cloning, but when it comes to improvisational bullshitting…that was another matter. Egon looks around, trying to find the words and not blow their cover, while trying to hide his own fear and not arouse suspicion. 

"Me?" he dumbly asks. 

"Yeah," the officer answers. 

"Fine…fine…it's cutting fine now…" 

"Great. Why are you cutting?" 

"Why am I cutting?" Egon looks across the street where Ray and Peter emerge from the cafe, dressed similar to him and carrying cups of coffee. Thank God, he thinks with some hope finally in his heart, and quickly waves them over. "BOSS!" he calls. Ray and Peter had seen the police car when they emerged, and were already quickly on their way over, minds racing. Peter, of course, takes the lead. 

"Who told you to stop cutting? Someone tell you to stop cutting?" Peter says in an extremely stressed out and agitated voice. 

"He did," Egon says, setting the jackhammer down and pointing to the officer. 

"You tell him to stop cutting?" Peter asks the officer. 

"Yes I did. What're you guys doing here?" 

"What does it look like we're doing! Why don't you let us work! We let you work!" 

"Hey, take it easy!" Ray says to Peter in an exaggerated Brooklyn accent. "He's been working overtime," he starts to the officer, "I'll tell you why we're here; we're here 'cause some diaper bag downtown's bein' a jerk and making us work on a Friday night. I mean, am I right Peter?" 

"Of course you're right, Raymond…is he right, Ziggy?" Peter asks Egon. Egon looks at him, quickly thinking of how to respond. 

"Yo!" in a deep voice was the best he could come up with accompanied by raising his fist. 

"Well, you guys take it easy, alright?" the officer says as the car begins to pull away. They start back towards the hole Egon was digging. Ray checks behind him to see if the car is out of earshot, then returns back to business. 

"What've you been doing?" Ray asks, handing Egon his coffee. 

"What've I been doing while you've been getting coffee for an hour? I've been digging a hole in the middle of the street!" Peter and Ray crouch down by the hole while Egon sets down his coffee and opens up the case next to it. Ray flashes his light down the hole, trying to see what's down there. 

"Wow, looks like you've uncovered an old airshaft." Egon pulls the Giga meter out of the bag and crouches down by the hold, holding it over as he takes a reading. "Man, it just goes on and on!" 

"It's very intense," Egon declares, "we should get a deeper reading." He turns off his meter as Ray puts his flashlight away. They all stand up. 

"Yeah, we're gonna need a deeper reading," Ray agrees. 

"Someone's going to have to go down there," Egon adds. 

"Someone's gotta go down there," Ray concurs, shaking his head. He looks up to see both Egon and Peter looking towards him, smirks on their faces. Ray slumps as he realizes what they're thinking.

* * *

It's after hours and the entire museum is quiet and dark; save for the lonely light coming from within the Restoration Room. Janosz stands on the top step of the small ladder positioned next to the painting of Vigo. He dabs his brush on his pallet and begins his work on the canvas by Vigo's face. He steadily moves in, lightly brushing against the old paint. He begins to dab on the corner of the eye, then moves over to do the eye itself when suddenly, bolts fly out from both of Vigo's eyes and travel into his body. 

His arm flies back and he stumbles down the ladder, the energy coursing through his body and causing him to spasm. He falls onto the floor and flops around like a fish as the energy lessens in intensity and fades. 

"**Listen to me!**" an ominous booming voice in a strange tongue orders from behind him. Janosz looks around, startled, before turning back to the painting. He sees that the form of Prince Vigo has been replaced with his large head floating over a pink river in some kind of artistically designed tunnel. Waterfalls of the substance fall into the river from between the columns that line either side. Through the top of the tunnel, yellow clouds can be seen moving in the sky. 

"What! Who!" Janosz starts. 

"**I, Vigo, the scourge of Carpathia, the sorrow of Moldavia, command you!**" the head booms, his eyes flashing with red energy. Janosz's eyes flash with the same energy, and suddenly his fear is completely erased. The strange language Vigo speaks is now instantly translated within his head, and he quickly stumbles to his knees to bow before the painting. 

"Command me, Lord!" he pleads. 

"**On a mountain of skulls in a castle of pain I sat on a throne of blood. What was will be, what is shall be no more. Now is the season of rebirth.**" 

"Rebirth?" 

"**Find me a child that I might live again!**" The head flies back into the background as the painting fades back to its original state. 

"A child! A child!" Janosz quickly stands up, eager to carry out his new master's wishes. He stops when he suddenly realizes he doesn't completely understand his new master's wishes. He looks towards the painting, confused. "A child?" Vigo's eyes glow and two beams of energy fly out and into Janosz's eyes. His head is quickly filled with the knowledge he will need to fully serve Vigo, and he feels his body becoming charged with a strange new energy. The beams stop, and Janosz stands, paralyzed. After a few moments, he runs his hands up his body and rubs his eyes, everything becoming crystal clear. 

"A child!" he declares, smiling with a new sense of purpose. He knew of just the perfect child.

* * *

The winch has been set up above the hole as Egon and Peter crouch down around the support bars. Egon runs the controls for the winch while Peter carefully guides the steel cable down. 

"You alright?" Peter asks into the headset he now wears as he looks down the hole. 

Ray descends down the shaft hooked up in a harness connected to the winch. He looks around the old area, covered in uneven rock, dirt and cobwebs. The only light comes primarily from his flashlight and the light on his hardhat. He pushes himself clear of an ancient rusty pipe before grabbing the receiver of his headset. 

"I'm good, speed's good, boys, keep it coming," he responds. He continues down in the eerily quiet darkness, spanning his light over the walls and pipes as he passes. He notices a small rumbling from below growing louder as he continues to move down. A rod-like device with a rounded end connected to his belt bumps up against his leg every time he's slightly jostled. He notices as a pink glow begins to fill the shaft, faint at first but also growing in intensity. Finally, he passes through a hole though what appears to be a tiled rounded ceiling illuminated by the pink glow. 

"We're breaking through…I see some light…tunnel work. I'm in some kind of a chamber…there's tile work..." Ray notices the rumbling sound he was hearing had become almost deafening. He looks down, and that's when he sees it; there below him running through a tunnel like a river was a bubbling, flowing mass of pink and purple slime. "Slime!" Ray exclaims. 

"What?" Egon calls over the headset. 

"It's a river of slime! There must be 25,000 gallons of it! It's flowing through here like a river!" Ray frantically searches around, trying to get some bearing…some sense. The tiling continues down from the ceiling to cover every inch of the walls. Off to his right is a subway platform with rusting hand rails by the end. Along the wall are fancy cast iron lanterns that once provided illumination to the area, as well as an archway leading to stairs covered in chunks of rock that have broken down from the surroundings from decades of neglect. "Van Horne…" Ray reads aloud the tiled sign in the center of the arch, thinking it sounds very familiar. He looks to his left and tiled above the tunnel itself is a sign that reads "Pneumatic Transit 1870". 

"Pneumatic Transit! I can't believe it, it's the old Pneumatic Transit System! It's still here!" In his excitement, Ray had failed to notice that he had forgotten to tell his partners when to stop feeding his line. He snaps back to reality just in time to notice he was about to be dunked like a teabag into the river. "Okay, boys, that's good! Hold it right there!" 

"What do you see?" Peter calls down, neither he nor Egon noticing the same police car from earlier pulling up with a Con Edison van. 

Ray slips his flashlight into his belt and grabs the rod. He grabs the rounded end and extends it out. Ray dips the rod's end into the slime and presses a button, opening the globe to take in a sample. 

Meanwhile, above ground, a grizzled Con Ed supervisor emerges from the van, putting on his blue hardhat. From the scowl on his face seeing the work site, one can tell that he isn't the type to take shit lightly, especially when it comes to his profession. 

"HEY!" he calls out. His voice snaps Peter and Egon back to reality, and Egon gives Peter a worried glance. Peter hides it, but he was a little worried as well, but quickly pushes those thoughts in the back of his mind as he slips back into character. The officers emerge from their car as Peter and Egon stand up to approach them. 

"What's going on, here? What's the story?" he asks as he approaches Peter and Egon. 

"Oh, what, you boys're gonna come rouse me out again!" Peter asks. "I got about 3,000 phones out in Greenwich Village! I got about 8 million miles of cable I gotta check! You guys're gonna come around and go up my ass!" 

"What're you talkin' about, buddy? The phone lines are over there!" the supervisor yells, pointing across the street. Peter stares at him for a few moments before turning to Egon and slapping him in the helmet. 

"What'd I say to you? The phone lines are over there! How many times! Huh? Huh?" 

"Hey, hey, hey!" the officer from earlier interjects, stopping Peter from smacking Egon further. "You're not with Con Ed or the phone company, we checked. So tell me another one." Egon suddenly becomes paralyzed. Panic fills his entire being as he realizes the prospect of jail looms in his future. The experiments he had yet to perform, the contributions to science he had yet to make; all gone in one instant. Peter, however, was not so quick to accept his inevitable defeat. He turns back towards the site, pointing around at all the work they did. 

"I got a major gas leak over here! Where do you think all this is coming from, the sky!" 

Ray reels in the end of the rod and locks it into place. He looks down as he notices the section of the river just below him beginning to rise up higher than the rest. 

"Okay, boys, bring me up," he says nervously. After a few seconds, he realizes there's no response. "Uh, boys? There's some kind of activity down here." Below him, the raising slime begins to morph into tentacles. "Boys?" The tentacles take a swipe at Ray, but he kicks it off, leaving only some residue on his boot. "Hey guys! Help! Bring me up!" 

"Ray!" Peter exclaims. He points down to the controls next to Egon. "Start it! Start it!" Egon hits the recall button and the winch comes to life, reeling the line back in. Ray goes flying up, leaving the river safely below him. 

"What's going on up there! Come on!" He quickly moves up through the shaft, flailing his arms in panic as he attempts to avoid being caught on any of the pipes. He accidentally kicks one, however, and the rusted piece gives out, falling onto a cluster of pipes below. Sparks fly up as the heavy piece knocks them loose. On the street above, the street lights go out, followed by the surrounding building lights. Then surround blocks, until eventually, the entire island of Manhattan becomes one with the night.

* * *

Dana walks into Oscar's room, carefully carrying a candle she had managed to find in the sudden darkness. He looks into his crib to check on him, smiling when she finds him sleeping peacefully. That is until heavy knocking came at the door. She curses under her breath at the intrusion as she quickly makes her way to the door. 

"Who is it?" she calls. 

"It's Janosz!" the familiar voice answers from behind. Dana rolls her eyes and quietly groans. 

"Hello, Janosz," Dana reluctantly says as she takes locks off the door and opening it. "This is a surprise." Janosz smiles, half his face cast in darkness from the red generator powered emergency lights that fill the hallway. 

"Oh, hello! Well, I, uh, happen to be here in this, uh, neighborhood and I thought that I would stop by to see how it is with you because of all this blackness…" 

"Oh, we're fine. Thank you." 

"Oh, well then you're okay. How's the baby?" 

"Oh, he's okay…" Dana says, giving him a strange look as he leans down to look past her into the apartment. 

"WOOOOOOOOOoooooooo!" He makes the noise, calling out to the baby. 

"…but he's sleeping," Dana adds. Janosz puts on a look of embarrassment as he brings his fingers to his smiling lips. 

"Oh, but I wooed." His smile turns sly as he tries to turn on the charm. "Do you need anything? You know, do you want me to come in?" Dana stares at him for a moment, wonder when he would ever take the hint…IF he would ever take the hint. 

"No thank you," she says as politely as possible. Janosz nods in understanding. 

"Well, just thought that I would check, you know? Well…hey you, don't let the bedbugs bite." 

"Goodnight, Janosz." She shuts the door, resisting every urge to slam it and hide in her apartment from this…weirdo. Janosz watches as the wood of the door comes close to his face as it shuts and he hears her lock it again from behind. He stiffly turns to the hallway and his eyes begin to light up. He walks down the hallway, scanning the walls and casting light from his eyes as he uses them to help him see in the darkness.

* * *

The United States Courthouse in Foley Square days later. Judge Steven Wexler sits behind the bench, having the misfortune to draw this particular case. His demeanor and face make no effort to hide his disdain of the defendants and this obvious waste of his time and the taxpayers' money. He holds his glasses in his hand as he rubs his eyes. 

"Before we get started I want to make one thing very clear; the law does not recognize the existence of ghosts, and I don't believe in them either. So, I don't want to hear a lot of malarkey about goblins and spooks and demons. We're going to stick to the facts in this case and save the ghost stories for the kiddies, understood?" Winston shakes his head as he leans over the defendant's table where Ray and Egon sit. 

"Sounds like a pretty open minded guy," he jokes. 

"Yeah, they call him 'The Hammer,'" Egon tells him. 

"Well, what can we do?" Ray asks. "It's all in the hands of our lawyer now." As if on cue, Louis drops the two stacks of thick law books he was carrying under his arms on the table. Ray, Egon and Winston look him and his bad green suit over, knowing they're in for a hell of a bumpy ride. 

"I think you guys are making a big mistake!" Louis says. "I do mostly tax laws and probate stuff occasionally. I got my law degree at night school." 

"That's fine, Louis. We got arrested at night," Ray says before slamming his head on the table. 

By the wooden railing of the spectator's gallery, Dana and Peter stand by the gate talking. 

"I wish I could stay. I feel personally responsible for you being here." 

"You are personally responsible," Peter says. "If I get conjugal rights, will you visit me in prison?" 

"Don't say that. You won't go to jail." 

"Don't worry about me, I'm like a cat." 

"You cough up hairballs on the rug?" she asks with a smirk. Peter gives her a pretend dirty look. 

"No, I land on my feet, you nutball." 

"Good luck," she says sincerely. They stand there for a moment, neither one sure if this was the time or place for a kiss. She smiles at him and nods, heading off. She stops and looks back as Peter gives her a thumbs up and a smile. She nods and reluctantly heads out of the courtroom. 

At the prosecutor's table, a no-nonsense woman in her 30s sits in one of the chairs, reviewing her notes one final time before the trial begins with her partner, a young man in a brown suit. Hardemeyer approaches her table and leans down on it to talk to her. 

"Just put these guys away fast and make sure they stay for a very long time." 

"It shouldn't be too hard with this list of charges," she says with a sly smile. Hardemeyer smiles and nods. 

"Good, very good." He stands up and walks over to the defense table. "Fraud, malicious mischief, willful destruction of public property…see you in a couple of years…at your first parole hearing." He makes his way out of the courtroom, smiling the smile of the just. Peter looks after him. 

"They'll never take us alive!" he says, wanting nothing more than to belt him one. Wexler bangs his gavel. 

"Alright, alright. Let's get on with it." 

Louis can't remember a time when he was more nervous in his life. Maybe it was the first time he tried to ask a girl out and ended up throwing up on her? Or the time when he gave a valedictorian speech in front of his graduating class and threw up on the principal? Oh Lord, he thinks, please don't let me throw up! He takes a deep breath and looks up at the judge, ready, somewhat, to give his opening statement. 

"Y-Your honor…ladies and gentlemen of the…of the audience…I don't think it's fair to call my clients frauds. Okay, so the blackout was a big problem for everyone, okay. I got stuck in an elevator for three hours and hadda make the whole time, but I don't blame them because once I turned into a dog and they helped me. Thank you." Louis returns to his seat next to Ray as Wexler just stares at him, dumbfounded and in disbelief at what he had just heard. 

"Very good, Louis," Egon says, "short yet pointless." 

The Prosecutor runs her hand over the table in front of the defendant's table. On it sits the Ghostbusters' proton packs, two traps, the PKE and Giga Meters, and the rod used to gather the slime sample now in a glass jar. 

"Mr. Fianella, please look at Exhibits A through G on the table here. Do you recognize this equipment?" On the witness stand, the man from Con Ed looks over at the table. 

"Yeah, that's the stuff the cops took from their truck." 

"And, do you know what this equipment is used for?" Fianella shrugs, thinking. 

"I dunno, catching ghosts?" Wexler looks over and flashes him a dirty look. The Prosecutor walks over to her table and picks up two sheets of paper. She turns and brings one to Wexler, motioning for Louis to come for the other one. 

"May I remind the court that the defendants are under probation by the city in regards to the levels of destruction of public property caused by their so-called services as paranormal investigators and eliminators within the period of the last five years." Louis takes his copy and returns to his seat. 

"So noted," Wexler says. The Prosecutor returns to the evidence table and picks up the jar. 

"Now, Mr. Fianella, can you identify the substance in the jar marked exhibit G?" She walks over to the stand and hands it too him. He takes it and looks it over, rolling it around in his hands and watching the viscous substance ooze around the jar's smooth surface. 

"Yeah, that's the stuff. Your honor, I've been working underground for Con Ed for over 27 years, and I never saw anything like this in my life. Whatever's down there, they musta put it there," he says, pointing towards the Ghostbusters. 

"No we didn't!" Ray yells out while standing up, obviously not liking the accusation. Wexler bangs his gavel hard. 

"Shut up!" he shouts at him. 

It's Peter's turn on the stand with Louis examining him. Peter looks around the courtroom as he speaks out of the side of his mouth in a whisper, telling Louis what to say which he does word for word. 

"So, you were just trying to help out a friend who was ascared of what was happening to her and when you're scared…what? …There was no evil intended, no malice because you live here and when you live in a place and you love it like you do you don't want nothing bad to happen…what? …Because it'll never happen again it's an isolated incident…it's a one shot deal…" 

"Objection!" the Prosecutor says, finally having enough. "Objection, your honor," she says again, regaining some composure. 

"What!" Louis asks her. 

"He's leading the witness." 

"Sustained!" Wexler says. Louis shakes his head. 

"Gimmie a break, we're both lawyers!" he says to her. 

"Mr. Tully!" Louis turns back to the judge who motions for him to come to the bench. "Do you have any questions for this witness that might have some bearing on this case?" Wexler asks. Louis looks over at Peter. 

"Do I?" 

"No, I think we've helped them out enough," Peter says. Louis turns back to the judge. 

"No, your honor." He begins to walk back to his seat, glaring at the prosecutor and curtly telling her "Your witness." The Prosecutor stands up and casually walks to the front of her table. 

"Dr. Venkman, would you please to the court why it is you and your co-defendants took it upon yourselves to dig a very big hole in the middle of First Avenue?" Peter shrugs. 

"Well, there's so many holes on First Avenue we really didn't think anyone would notice," he says sarcastically. That causes some of the people in the gallery to crack up a bit. Wexler bangs his gavel to quiet them. 

"Keep that up, mister, and I'll find you in contempt!" The venom in his voice causes a bubble to form inside the slime jar. 

"I am truly sorry, your honor," Peter says, trying to hold back more sarcasm. 

"I'll ask you again, Dr. Venkman; why the hole? And remember you ARE under oath, " The Prosecutor says, her patience at end as well. 

"There are things in this world that go way beyond human understanding, things that can't be explained…things that most people don't want to know about. That's where we come in," he says, motioning towards Egon and Ray. Ray and Egon exchanged satisfied glances and nods over that statement. The Prosecutor approaches the stand and places her hands on it. 

"So, what you're trying to say is that the world of the supernatural is your special province?" Peter puts his hand on top of hers, causing her to quickly draw them back in disgust. 

"Kitten, what I'm trying to say is that sometimes shit happens, someone's gotta do something about it, and who're you gonna call?" The gallery bursts out in applause and cheers, and Wexler angrily bangs his gavel. 

"SHUT UP!" 

"Peter Venkman, Raymond Stantz, Egon Spengler…stand up! Get up!" Wexler demands. The three of them exchange disappointed looks as they stand. "You too, Mr. Tully." Louis quickly shoots up. "I find you guilty on all charges. I order you to pay fines in the amount of 25,000 each and I sentence you to eighteen months in the city correctional facility at Ryker's Island!" Amidst his disappointment, Ray notices a stirring within the slime jar as more bubbles form. He pats Egon's arm. 

"Iggy…she's twitching!" he says. Egon and Peter follow his gaze to the table. Wexler bangs his gavel to quiet the disappointed grumblings of the gallery. 

"I'm not finished! On a more personal note, let me go on record as saying that there is no place in decent society for fakes, charlatans and tricksters like you…" 

"Uh, your honor?" Egon tries to interject as the jar begins to bubble more. 

"Shut up! …who prey on the gullibility of innocent people!" 

"Your honor, this is important!" Peter says. 

"You're beneath the contempt of this court!" 

"Yes, your honor…" Ray starts. 

"SHUT UP!" 

"But…" Ray says, making a motion with his hands to the jar as it begins to over flow and spill out onto the table. A wind begins to pick up in the courtroom. 

"And believe me, if my hands were not tied by the unalterable fetters of the law, a law which has become in my view far too permissive and inadequate in it's standards of punishment…" The Ghostbusters slowly back away from their table as the slime begins to spit up little globs into the air, the jar rocking fiercely, threatening to throw itself off the table. 

"…I would invoke the tradition of our illustrious fore bearers, reach back to a sterner, purer justice…" Realizing the judge was far too into listening to his own voice to care, Egon makes a motion that they should duck under the table. They quickly comply, dragging Louis with them. "…and have you burned at the stake!" 

The slime jar bursts and two entities fly up from the spot it once occupied. They hover in the air above the bench and take the form of a skinny transparent skeleton and a fat ghostly blob, both wearing what resembles prison-issued clothing and sitting in electric chairs. Blue electricity courses over their bodies as they convulse and twitch as though they are being electrocuted. 

"Wow!" Ray exclaims from under the table, looking up at them. The gallery members begin to retreat from the courtroom, Winston ushering them out as best he can. 

"Move, move, move!" he shouts. 

"Oh my God, it's the Scoleri Brothers!" Wexler exclaims from his chair, terrified after having recognized them. The Scoleris burst from their chairs and turn towards Wexler, recognizing him too. His eyes grow wide and he scrambles over the bench, quickly leaping off of it as they dive down onto it, causing it to explode. Winston turns towards the sound, only to get caught up in the last of the spectators and pushed out of the door with them. The thin brother flies up and points his hand, firing some energy at the doors. The energy dances on them before they close shut, energy flashing briefly around the door frame. 

"No!" Winston shouts as he lunges for the doors. He grabs hold of the knobs only to get electricity coursing through his body. He's blown back across the hall and into the wall where he crumples to the floor. 

"The Scoleri Brothers!" Wexler exclaims, scrambling under the table with the Ghostbusters. 

"Friends of yours?" Ray asks. 

"I tried 'em for murder! Gave 'em the chair! You gotta do something! Help me!" 

"Why don't you tell them you don't believe in ghosts?" Egon asks. Suddenly, the table lifts up from above them as the two brothers pick it up to expose them. The occupants quickly run behind the glass partition separating the bench area from the side doorway as the Scoleris throw the table into the wrecked bench. 

Wexler tries the door knob, but receives a jolt. He bangs on it, hoping someone outside would open the door. He turns back as the glow from the energy and twisted, inhuman laughter fills the room. Wexler turns frantically to Ray, grabbing his sport coat and shaking him violently. 

"You gotta do something! Help me!" Ray gives him an emotionless look. 

"Don't talk to me, talk to my attorney." 

"That's me!" Louis says, stepping up. "My boys are in probatationimal vol…viol…vionitim…that blue thing I got from her! They could be exposing themselves!" 

"And you don't want us exposing ourselves!" Peter chimes in. They all perk up as they hear the Prosecutor screaming. They quickly dash to the end of the partition and peer out to see the fat brother carrying her upside down towards the door by her leg. She hits the door, sending it flying open as the ghost rams her into the people outside. 

Winston sees his opportunity and makes a mad dash for the doors as they begin to close. Using his military training, he leaps, expertly lands, and rolls out into the courtroom just as the doors slam shut and reseal themselves. He looks back and lets out a breath of relief, quickly standing up and heading towards the front of the room. 

Behind the partition, Wexler grabs his head knowing for sure he's next. Peter, aware of this fear, smiles smugly. 

"You're next, bubbles." 

"Alright, alright! I dismiss the charges, case dismissed!" Wexler says, desperately. "Now do something!" 

"All right! We won the case!" Louis cheers as the other three celebrate quickly. Winston appears at the opening. 

"Yo, guys, think we got some work to do." 

"I think you're right, Z," Peter says, patting him on the back as they head out from behind the partition towards their equipment. As Ray and Egon help each other on with their packs, Winston chucks his suit jacket and pulls his on. Peter fastens the pack's belt around his waist, pulling his proton gun down. "Well, boys, time to do some damage." 

"Yeah. Heat 'em up, boys," Ray says. Peter turns on his gun, filling the room with the familiar hum as the pack comes to life. 

"Doe…" 

"Rae…" Ray says with a smile as he turns his on. Egon flips his switch. 

"Egon…" Peter and Ray give Egon a look, and he gives them a smirk in return. Winston shakes head behind them. 

"You guys are nuts." The courtroom grows silent as the four of them look around for any sign of the spooks. Ray looks towards Egon who holds the PKE meter, but he shakes his head indicating no trace yet. Ray's eyes grow wide as he begins to feel his hair move at the suddenly increasing breeze within the room. The wings on the PKE move up to their full position, prompting Egon to put it back on the table and grab his positron rifle with both hands. 

Suddenly, two chairs from the back row of the spectators gallery come flying up as if being smacked aside, catching their attention. The next two chairs follow, then the next to, right down the line until they reach the railing. The Scoleris shoot up from the floor, letting out an inhuman roar. The Ghostbusters press the rifle triggers and begin blasting at them. But the ghosts move too fast, causing the proton streams to blast the walls and ceiling instead, leaving burns and small fires in their wake. The ghosts fly over them towards the back wall. They stop firing when they disappear through it. 

"Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" Peter shouts after them. He looks at the guys and begins to laugh mockingly. They stare at him for a second before Ray catches on to his plan and laughs with him, followed by Winston. Egon begins to make forced noises that could pass as laughing. Louis comes out from behind the partition, looking around curiously as Peter's laughing gets a bit more goofy. Not taking too kindly to being laughed at, the fat brother reappears in the courtroom, furious, and looking at Peter. 

"Oh shit!" Peter says, firing his proton stream up at the ghost as Louis dives back behind his cover, screaming. He moves out of the way as Peter's stream hits the wall, sending up a wave of sparks. Peter keeps firing, follow the ghost across the courtroom. "C'mon, big boy! C'mon! I'm gonna take you home to my Wanda Sue!" The ghost tries to maneuver, but Peter moves a step ahead of him and the proton stream wraps around the ghost, immobilizing him. 

"You got him! You got him!" Ray exclaims. He looks towards Egon. "Spengy, bring the trap!" 

"Okay, okay!" Egon says, turning for the table. Winston perks up as he notices the other brother coming through the wall and making a line straight for Ray. 

"Behind you, Ray!" he shouts, firing at the ghost. Ray ducks as both the beam and ghost miss him. He fires his beam after him, forcing Egon to duck as the ghost doges the beam allowing it to hit the partition and sending a wave of broken glass down on Wexler. Winston turns and fires, catching the other brother in his stream. 

"Hold him, Winston!" Egon says. "Start bringing him back, Venkman!" Peter starts to slowly move back towards the bench, the ghost in tow. 

"C'mon, big boy! That'sa boy!" Peter says. 

"Keep moving to the right, Winston!" Egon shouts as he throws the trap in between him and Peter. Peter and Winston position their ghosts right next to each other, and Ray joins in to give them extra support and control. "Okay, get ready, I'm opening the trap!" Egon drops the pedal onto the ground and stomps down on it. 

The trap doors open, emitting a column of brilliant light around the ghosts and forcing the Ghostbusters to stop blasting to look away. The ghosts begin to lose their coherent shapes as they're sucked down into the rectangular box. Once inside, the doors shut, sealing them in. The indicator lights flare up, showing that the trap is full and that the ghosts won't be getting out any time soon. They Ghostbusters gather around the trap, looking down at it happily. 

"Two in the box!" Ray says. 

"Ready to go!" Peter adds. 

"We be fast…" Winston starts. 

"And they be slow!" they all say together. Louis runs over to them and looks down at the trap. 

"Wow!" he exclaims, picking it up carefully. 

Outside the courtroom is a chaotic mess. Paramedics and police attend to the frightened gallery members while reporters struggle for a position in the cramped hallway to get the best story. They all turn towards the courtroom doors as they burst open, the Ghostbusters and Louis walking out of the decimated courtroom victoriously. Immediately, cameras begin flashing in their faces, and Peter realizes now's a good chance for some free publicity. 

"We're the best, we're the beautiful, we're the ONLY…Ghostbusters!" 


	5. BUSTIN' MAKES ME FEEL GOOD

"AAAAAH!" Janine screams as a very fake ghost made out of a sheet on a wire flies across the tacky bedroom set. Louis pops up from under the covers next to her, startled. He quickly grabs his glasses off the nightstand. 

"What is it, honey?" he asks. 

"It's that darn ghost again! He just wont leave us alone!" Janine says, demonstrating her poor acting skills. "I guess we're just going to have to move!" She climbs out of the bed and starts to walk away, but Louis grabs her and keeps her on the bed. 

"Wait! We're not moving! He is!" He turns back to the nightstand and picks up the phone. 

"Who are you going to call?" The scene cuts to a full shot of the room with the Ghostbusters standing in full regalia in front of the bed. They strike a strong pose and say: 

"Ghostbusters!"

* * *

In his office, Hardemeyer watches the commercial on his small TV, his attention grabbed by Janine's scream. He shakes his head before putting it down on his desk. He looks up to see he's resting on a folded up Daily News with a front-page article about the Ghostbusters' release from jail, and curses under his breath. I'll get you yet, he vows.

* * *

Five years ago, Walter Peck had shut down the protective fields inside the Containment Unit, the final stop for ghosts caught by the Ghostbusters. Without those fields, the supernatural energy inside gathered and exploded, releasing ghosts all over the city and empowering Gozer the Gozarian. It had left the basement a shambles and the firehouse with a hole straight through its middle. 

In the months that followed, the firehouse was repaired completely, and the Containment Unit rebuilt bigger and better than ever. The unit is now comprised of a large, ovular center unit with the silo-shaped units off to the side. Hoses run from them into the main unit, which in turn has hoses running off into a computerized control panel against the opposite wall. In the center of the main unit is the square hatch where the trap is inserted. Above it are the buttons to set the entry grid, neutralize the field, and the lever used to dump a trap's contents into the unit. At the very top of the unit are the red and green lights indicating the current status of storage. 

Ray rolls out the old map on the desk in the basement while he puffs on a cigarette. Egon stands by the power meters on the wall behind the desk, checking their readings on his clipboard in between bites of his Twinkie. Winston leans over the metal banister of the stairs leading up to the garage bay, alternating between his cigarette and his bottle of beer. Peter leans against the repaired wall and former home of the Containment Unit, nursing his own beer. 

"This is an old transit map I secured from the Hall of Records," Ray starts. "This is from 1904, the time when the electrified subway system opened and started to replace the Pneumatic Transit System." He traces his finger down a line indicating a certain section of track. "This is the line that has the Van Horne station." He twists his body and grabs another rolled up map and opens it on top of the other one. "This is a map from 1964, the last year to acknowledge the Pneumatic Transit lines. Unfortunately, direct access to the line was cut off by the IRT Lexington line, which means we'd have to go through an access tunnel to, well, access the tunnel." 

"Sounds like a fun Saturday night, Ray. Got a hot date?" Peter asks. Unknown to any of them, a small crack in the basement floor near the containment unit emits a small glob of pink slime. It bubbles as it silently forces its way through. 

"No, Venkman. We need to get back down there and figure out where that river of slime came from and what it's doing here." 

"I want to get some readings and a few samples," Egon adds. "I'm interested in running some experiments on it."

* * *

At the museum, Vigo's eyes flash with red energy briefly.

* * *

The phone rings and Janine reaches over, blindly picking it up and never taking her eyes off the pages of the book she reads, "Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus". "Ghostbusters," she says into the receiver. She puts the book down and grabs a pen. "Yes, they're on their way, thank you." She hangs up the phone, jotting down the information on the pad. Suddenly, the phone rings again. She looks at it and picks it up again. 

"Ghostbusters…yes, yes okay. They'll be there as soon as they can…yes, I'll tell them. Thank you." She hangs up the phone, and as soon as she does three lines light up. "What the hell?" She picks up the phone again as it continues to ring as the lines light up. "Ghostbusters, please hold…Ghostbusters, hold on…Ghostbusters, hang on…hang on….hang on…Ghostbusters, what the hell do you want!" 

The guys look up from the maps as the alarm rings out throughout the building. They quickly drop what they're doing and run up the stairs. Off in the corner, the glob of slime begins to recede back into the crack from whence it came. 

Winston, Egon and Ray all head past Janine's desk towards their lockers and Ecto-1. Peter trots behind, grabbing the slip of paper she holds out while answering more calls. Peter stops short when he looks at the list. 

"Holy shit, Janine!" he exclaims, looking at all the jobs. "What'd you do, put out an ad saying we were giving something away for free!" She just flashes him a dirty look as she continues to take call after call. 

The doors open to the firehouse and Ecto-1 rolls out, screeching the tires as it makes the sharp left on N. Moore before turning down on Varick. Louis runs out after them carrying a file folder. "Only take certified check, cash or money order!" he shouts after them. He watches as they disappear around another corner before heading back towards the now closed doors. He stops to let a pedestrian pass by, then proceeds to grab the knob to the door within the door. He pulls back on it, opening up the entire door before pushing the little door in, stepping through and back around, closing the larger door and stepping inside. 

He walks through the garage bay, looking at the papers in his hands as he goes. "Janine! Lunch!" he calls out, his voice echoing off the tiled walls. His nose wrinkles as he smells something awful. "Smells like someone took a big…" He stops short when he hears inhuman sounds in front of him. 

He looks up slowly. There, above his desk and eating out of his tin lunchbox is a giant green glob. His thin arms quickly pick up Louis' lunch and cram it down his gaping maw. He stops chewing when he realizes he's being watched. The ghost turns around and looks Louis straight in the eye, a piece of meat dropping from his lip onto the desk. They both scream, turning to run away. The slimer flies through the wall, leaving a splotch of viscous ectoplasm behind while Louis trips over a piece of equipment on the floor and falls over.

* * *

A proton stream flies over a shelf, destroying boxes of cereal as it hits. The ghost flies around the small grocery store as Ray takes aim and opens fire, blasting the ceiling in front of it. It changes direction and flies straight into Peter's stream. Egon throws out the trap and the ghost is sucked down inside.

* * *

At the northern end of Central Park is the New Reservoir. Completed in 1862, it supplied the city with water until the task was delegated to a source outside the city. It now supplies water to some of the Park's other nearby bodies of water. People travel from all over to either take in the scenery offered by the lack of trees in the area, the ornamental stone gatehouses designed by Calvert Vaux, or most commonly the jogging path that spans over a mile around the body of water. 

Today, the cold of the winter has not deterred New York's health conscious populace from their daily run, as a crowd of joggers partake of the scenery and the atmosphere as they jog around the reservoir. A couple of the lead joggers glance back over their shoulders as they hear startled cries of terror from the runners behind them. Their eyes grow wide as they see the reason why. 

A man in relatively good shape wearing shorts and a tank-top runs up through the crowd. He keeps his own pace, avoiding people as they dive out of his way. What makes this jogger different than most is the fact he has an aura around him and is almost transparent. One jogger leaps up and grabs onto the chain link fence around the reservoir as the ghost jogger passes by, placing two fingers on his neck where his pulse once was and checking his watch. 

A few yards ahead of the chaos, Ray stands by the fence, hunched down like an umpire and watching the path through his ecto-goggles. He chomps on the end of his cigar as he looks at the ghost jogger intently and calculates distance in his head as he rapidly approaches. Just as the jogger begins to pass him, Ray turns fast and makes an execute motion across the path. On the bench across the way, Peter sits casually, reading a newspaper. Without looking up, he slams down on the pedal by his feet, opening the trap in the middle of the path just as the jogger runs over it. The light quickly engulfs him and sucks him in, the doors closing and the lights coming on. 

"Bye, bye!" Peter waves with a smile. As Ray comes over to celebrate, slime oozes up out of the sewage drain behind Peter's bench.

* * *

As Winston puts a full trap to empty into the containment unit, Ray once again tries to go over his plans for getting into the Pneumatic Transit tunnel with Peter. The bell rings throughout the building, and Ray throws up his hands in frustration.

* * *

Inside a midtown jewelry store, the ghost of a woman hovers by one of the counters, trying on various rings and necklaces. Her transparent skeletal remains fail to come up in the mirror she looks into, but the gems glint in the store's fluorescent light. She admires the earrings she wears when Peter and Winston enter the shop, wearing Santa hats and with their positron rifles drawn. She turns quickly towards them. 

"Excuse me, but I think you'd look better in this," Peter jokes while dangling a trap as Winston opens fire on her.

* * *

"Are you sure you're alright?" Janine asks, carrying Louis into the kitchen area. Louis holds his head, trying to get the world back into focus. 

"I'm fine, I fall all the time. I'm used to it." She sets him down at one of the chairs at the kitchen table then turns to the fridge, grabbing a glass off the counter. She opens the door, and her jaw drops. Louis perks up as he hears the familiar sounds from inside the fridge. They both watch as the green ghost eats everything in the fridge, his body phased through two sets of shelves. He stops when he notices the door's open and looks at them. Louis dumbly reaches past Janine and pushes the door closed.

* * *

Ray and Winston crouch down on the steps of historic Trinity Church in downtown. Ray carefully uses a ladle to spoon up the pink slime on the steps into his sample jar, shaking his head.

* * *

The Ghostbusters run from Ecto-1 carrying large suitcases towards the door leading into Orrefors, a fine glassware distributor. Inside, a pesky poltergeist has taken it upon itself to cause various items to float freely around the store, scaring off customers and leaving terrified store personnel to deal with it. The Ghostbusters move carefully about; setting up four devices on tripods, each one with the same yellow and black stripes found on the traps. 

The store manager looks on nervously as Winston and Ray hook them up to their power source. Egon moves around the room, holding up his Giga meter and taking readings. Meanwhile, Peter is off to the side, making some time with the very attractive store employee. 

"Let's do it," Ray says, indicating everything was set up. The guys reach into their suit pockets and pull out dark sunglasses. They put them on and take their positions. Peter smirks to the girl and raises his eyebrows seductively as Egon takes his final readings. 

"Now!" he says. Ray flips the master switch and the tops of the tripods open up. The room fills up with multi-colored laser beams that take a diamond shape over the store. They soon spread out into a blue laser grid and a flash causes everyone to look away. Seconds later, all the floating objects come crashing down, shattering on the floor or destroying display cases. The store's employees all cover their faces in horror as they watch their inventory fall to pieces. 

"Ooops…" Ray mutters. 

"Will that be cash or charge?" Peter casually asks, trying to get them the hell out of there. Meanwhile, in the back room, the bathroom sink slowly drips slime into the basin.

* * *

The bell rings in the firehouse as the guys slide down the poll. Within seconds, Ecto-1 is out the door and on its way.

* * *

Egon holds up the receiver to a pay phone as slime drips out of it. Ray stands next to him, holding a sample jar under it and collecting the ooze.

* * *

On the floor of the garage bay, a trap pedal sits by one of the pillars. The cord runs from it over to Louis' desk, then up to the trap sitting on top of it. Above it sites an elevated slotted rack with a plate full of fried chicken sitting on it. The buckets the chicken came in are strewn about the desk, with two small fans blowing over them, letting the smell flow throughout the area. 

The green ghost slowly sticks his head through the wall over the desk, sniffing wildly for the greasy food. Behind the pillar, Louis presses himself up against it, watching his desk with one of Ecto-1's old mirrors he fashioned onto some headgear. He takes a deep, excited breath as he watches the slimer come fully out of the wall and quickly snatch up the plate, chowing down on the greasy goodness. 

Louis quickly stomps on the pedal, and the trap opens. The spud screams as he throws the plate aside, avoiding the light coming out of the trap and diving through the wall. The plate shatters on the ground and Louis lets up off the trap. He sighs as he looks at his failed trap. He starts to turn away when a chunk of the ceiling falls onto the desk and causes it collapse under the force. Louis slumps his shoulders and groans.

* * *

In the basement, Egon types on his calculator, taking some readings. He checks it against a printout coming from the new containment unit control console, and furrows his brow. He looks around and picks up the PKE meter. The wings extend out fully, and he scratches his chin. He turns back to the console and lifts the cap up off a switch, then flicks the switch itself. Just above the floor, a field of energy flashes and fades from visible sight. However, the slime in the crack glows as its forced back down by the protective shielding Egon had just activated. 


	6. I DON'T KNOW ART

At the museum, Dana picks up a jar of thinner from a table and begins to head back to her station, reading the label. She stops halfway when she feels like someone's watching her intently. She looks around, but sees nothing nearby save for the large painting of Prince Vigo. She starts to walk away, but looks back. This time, some movement catches her eye as it seems like the painting was just…smiling at her. _Get a hold of yourself_, she thinks. She shakes her head and starts to walk away again, looking back at the painting as she does. 

Peter walks into the Restoration Room through the grand arches, looking around at all the various artists working at their stations. He makes an impressed face as he looks around the nicely designed room. Peter walks over to Dana's station, shedding his coat as he approaches, revealing his blue sweater underneath. He's unaware that two sets of eyes watch him intently; one belonging to Vigo and the other to a very jealous Janosz. 

Dana is concentrating hard on the work in front of her, dabbing at it with a long q-tip while looking through a pair of magnifying glasses. Peter grabs the edge of the easel and turns it away from her, causing her to stop dabbing in mid-air. He pretends to be interest in the work, then smiles at her, noting that the glasses make her eyes look huge and disproportionate to her face. 

"You're good, pretty eyes." Dana smiles at him. 

"I didn't paint it, I'm just cleaning it. It's a Gauguin." 

"Oh, I've heard of him!" Peter says as he hangs up his coat on the side of the easel. 

"To what do I owe the pleasure?" Dana asks as she cleans her brush. 

"Been pretty busy lately, just thought I'd drop in to check on you," Peter says. Janosz approaches from behind him, putting on his biggest, fakest smile so as not to show his true feelings. 

"Vell, Dana…aren't you going to introduce me to your friend?" he asks in his most pleasant tone. 

"Oh, sure," Dana says, pushing the glasses up off her face, "Peter Venkman, this is Dr. Janosz Poha." She thinks for a moment then adds "The HEAD of our department," to ensure Peter stay on his best behavior. Peter catches this and pleasantly offers his hand to Janosz. Janosz reaches up with his right hand and gently grabs Peter's fingers with his fingertips. Peter turns to Dana; giving her a perplexed look telling her he's wondering what the hell was wrong with this nutball. 

"Yes, of course I've seen you on the television. Quite enjoy. Eh, not hear on business, I hope?" Janosz asks, releasing Peter's hand. Peter takes the opportunity to casually wipe his hand on his sweater, putting his pleasant smile back on. 

"Well, that's top secret," he jokes. He looks over Janosz's head and sees the painting of Vigo over in his workstation. "Say, Johnny, you got a Gauguin too!" He brushes past the little man and heads over towards the painting. Janosz quickly follows him with Dana behind. 

"Vell, actually, I'm preparing this piece for the new romantic exhibition. This is Prince Vigo, the ruler of Carpathia and Moldavia!" Janosz says proudly as he ascends the small step-ladder next to the painting that allows him to work on the towering piece. Peter stands in front of the painting and turns around, positioning himself to mimic Vigo's pose. 

"Bit of a sissy, wasn't he?" Peter asks. Janosz grows a little defensive. 

"He was a very powerful magician, Dr. Venkman….and a genius, in many ways." He looks up at Vigo's face as if seeking approval for his words. 

"He was also a lunatic and a genocidal madman," Dana adds. Peter steps away from it and moves next to her, looking at it, studying it. "I hate this painting." Subtly, Janosz raises his hand to calm his master, feeling his steadily growing rage at the disrespect he is forced to endure. "I've felt uncomfortable ever since it came up from storage." 

"Aw, you're probably feeling what Vigo's feeling…Carpathian kitten loss! Vigo's missed his kitten!" Pete jokes, getting Dana to smile. Peter steps over to the desk and grabs a pallet of paints and a brush off of it and moves towards the painting. "We'll just put one in here by the castle…" Janosz quickly leaps off the ladder and cuts him off. 

"Don't go around altering valuable artwork, Dr. Venkman! Go, yes I think go, yes. This joyfulness is over!" He looks over at Dana, making dismissing motions with his hands, quietly telling her to get rid of him. 

"He was just kidding," she assures him as she grabs Peter and begins to pull him away. 

"You'll never get a green card with that attitude, pal," Peter retorts as they walk away. "I don't get…" He stops and slaps his head. "Oh, I get it! You're sweet on this hunky stud, aren't ya?" he asks her quietly. 

"You know, Peter, every now and then I get the feeling that painting is watching me, even smiling at me," Dana tells him, seriously. They look back towards the painting to see Janosz moving as if he was having a conversation with the painted figure. They turn their heads back to look at each other strangely, not sure of what was going on.

* * *

The microwave beeps and Ray presses the door release button under the keypad. He pulls out a small Tupperware bowl filed partly with the pink slime and shuts the door, walking over to the table behind him where the others wait. He sets the bowl down, then pushes out his lab coat from under him as he sits in a chair. Winston yawns while Peter holds his cigarette looking dead tired. 

"We've been experimenting with the ectoplasm we found in the subway, and come up with some very interesting results," he says. 

"Should we get spoons?" Peter asks, looking at the bowl. 

"Don't bother, watch this…" Egon says. He gives Ray a nod from across the table. Ray looks down at the bowl and suddenly his face twists into an angry expression. 

"YOU! You ugly piece of slime!" he shouts out, filled with as much hate and venom as he can muster. Winston and Peter look at him as if he was crazy until they notice bubbles forming in the bowl. "You ignorant, disgusting blob! You foul, obnoxious muck! I have seen some real shit in my time, but you're a chemical disgrace! You…" 

"Hey, hey, hey! That's enough!" Winston says, touching Ray lightly when he realizes he got too into what he was doing to notice that the bowl had gone from it's small amount to almost spilling over the top. 

"Oh…sorry," Ray says with a nervous, apologetic smile. 

"This is what you do with your spare time?" Peter asks. 

"This is an incredible breakthrough, Peter," Egon says frankly. "Whatever this sample is, it's a psycho-reactive substance that clearly responds to human emotional states." 

"Mood slime? What a concept. We should patent the rights to it, make a fortune," Peter says. 

"You mean this stuff feeds on bad vibes?" Winston asks, trying to keep the discussion serious. 

"Like a goat on garbage," Ray responds. "We've been running tests to see if we can get an equally strong positive reaction." 

"What kind of tests?" Peter asks. 

"Well…" Ray starts, turning a deep shade of red. "We, uh, we sing to it. Talk to it. Say supportive…and nurturing things…to it…." 

"You're not sleeping with it, are you, Ray?" Ray gives Egon a look, and Egon turns away, clearing his throat, as if to signify that he was. Peter hangs his head, shaking it as he laughs. 

"Oh, you hound!" 

"It's always the quiet ones," Winston adds. 

"Ahem…how about the kinetic test?" Egon asks, trying to get the topic off of him. 

"Sounds like a good idea," Ray says. Egon turns around and throws papers and pizza boxes aside until he finds a toaster on the counter. He turns back to the table and places it next to the bowl. 

"An ordinary household toaster," he says. 

"We'll take your word for it," Peter says sarcastically. Ray takes a stick with a ball at the end and dips it into the slime. He picks it up and lets the slime drip into the slots of the toaster, trying to coat them evenly. He sets the stick back down on the table and Egon grabs the toaster. They head across the room to the pool table where he places it down as the other three join him. 

"It responds to music, so we've been running tests on it," Ray says, "you know, playing some easy listening and road time music. Paul Young and 'Dust On the Wind' work okay…" 

"But it loves Jackie Wilson," Egon says, wheeling over a stereo as a recording of "Higher and Higher" begins to play. 

"Oh, I get it, it sings! It sounds exactly like Jackie!" Peter exclaims. 

"Just watch," Egon says. 

"Does it do Amy Lou Harr…" Peter cuts himself off in mid sentence as the toaster begins to jump up with the music. Winston's jaw almost drops down to the ground as the toaster picks up the pace and bounds all around the table, seemingly dancing to the music. The boys start getting into it, cheering as it teeters on one side almost toppling over, but recovering to resume its frantic dance pace. The toaster only stops long enough to eject two slices of toast from its slots, which Egon manages to catch. He sets the toast down as Ray cuts the stereo. 

"Ooooh baby! Ooooh!" Peter says, reaching across the table and grabbing the toaster in a hug. "You're my number 1 Christmas gift boutique item!" 

"Yeah, and the first time someone gets mad the toaster will eat their hand," Winston says. Peter stops hugging the toaster and looks it over. 

"Oh, no way, man! We'll just put a warning label on here, we won't have any liability…" Suddenly, Peter starts to scream out as his two fingers appear to be caught in the slots. Egon and Ray quickly dive to pull it off of him, but are confused when it easily comes off in their hands. Peter laughs, holding up his two fingers. "Oh, did you ever go for it! The old man-eating toaster bit!" 

"GET HIM!" Ray shouts. Peter's smile quickly fades as he realizes its now three against one as they tackle him onto the nearby couch.

* * *

That night, Dana walks into the bathroom carrying Oscar; his face and shirt are covered with remnants of his dinner. She stops over by the old cast-iron bath tub and turns on the water. She tests the temperature as it runs out of the faucet, and when she's satisfied bends down to put the stopper in the drain. The water begins to gather at the bottom of the tub as she turns and places Oscar down on the nearby changing table. 

"Look at you, I think we got more food on your shirt than in your mouth," she says in a cutesy voice to the baby. The baby coos and kicks in response as she begins to remove his clothing. Caught up in playing with her son, Dana fails to notice that the running water has just grown quiet as the clear stream has been replaced by a steady line of pink slime. Dana keeps talking to Oscar as she begins to unbutton and remover her shirt, knowing full well she's going to get as much of a bath as he is. She picks him up and turns back towards the tub, her smile quickly fading. 

The tub bends in on itself as a large mass of pink slime rises up from the bottom, taking the form of a very large mouth. Dana screams as she avoids the slime's lunge for her and darts out of the bathroom and out of the apartment.

* * *

The pounds on the door echo throughout the massive garage bay, amplifying them throughout the rest of the firehouse. Ray slides down the pole closest to the doors and quickly runs towards them. He opens one up to find Dana clenching a naked Oscar to her chest tightly inside of a trench coat. 

"Dana!" Ray exclaims as he steps aside, allowing her access. 

"Oh, Ray, it was horrible! The bathtub tried to eat Oscar!" she sobs. Ray takes her in her arms and gently rubs her back. 

"Shhh, it's okay. You're safe now. You're safe with us." He looks up towards the opening in the ceiling that the pole runs through to the second floor. "Venkman! Venkman get down here!" he yells in between consoling words to Dana. Venkman stands over by the opening and peers down annoyed, trying to see what Ray wants. 

"What the hell do you want…Dana? Dana! Oh shit!" He grabs the pole and quickly slides down, running over to them. "What the hell happened?" he asks as Ray hands Dana off to him. 

"She says the bathtub tried to eat the baby," Ray tells him as the gently usher her through the garage bay towards Janine's desk. Egon and Winston come down the stairs, curious as to what all the commotion was about. Both were obviously in the middle of something as Egon wears a strange cap with wires and electrodes protruding from it on his head, while Winston wears pajama bottoms without their shirt, a towel wrapped around his neck and his face covered in shaving cream. 

"What's going on?' Winston asks. 

"Dana's tub attacked her," Ray tells them. Peter crouches down next to Dana as she rocks in Janine's chair with the baby, still distraught. 

"Shhh, honey. It's okay. Tell us what happened," Peter says to her gently. 

"It was horrible! There was all this pink ooze and it bent the tub. It came up like this giant hand or mouth or something and it just grabbed for us…I barely go out in time, I…I…" 

"Okay, it's okay. You're fine now," Peter says, giving Ray a look. "Okay, I'll tell you what…this kid's got a serious nudity problem, howabout I find something for him, alright?" 

"Oh, please don't leave me alone!" 

"Winston will stay with you, won't you, Winston?" 

"Yeah, sure, Pete," Winston says, wiping the rest of the shaving cream off his face. He sits down on the desk next to Dana as Egon, Peter and Ray move away and towards the stairs close together. 

"Guys, talk to me here…a TUB just tried to eat MY girl," Peter whispers. 

"Let's get up to the lab, I think I may have an idea," Egon whispers back. 

"By the way, Egon, love the fashion statement," Peter says, motioning to Egon's cap. Egon rolls his eyes as he pulls it off and they head up the stairs. 

Inside the lab, two jars of mood slime sit on a table with wires running from the jars to machinery against the wall, lights and indicators blinking and flashing as information is fed into it. A stereo sits near the set-up, two pairs of headphones running from it and over onto the jars while a cap similar to the one Egon was wearing sits on the table crumpled up as if it was quickly tossed aside. 

Egon, Peter and Ray enter, and Egon heads over to the computer on the opposite wall. Peter looks at the set-up as the slime bubbles slightly in the jars. 

"Okay, you've obviously been spending way too much time with this stuff…please tell me you know SOMETHING about it," Peter says. 

"We've been experimenting with this stuff, and we've found out that the charge can in fact be altered from it's naturally negative state to a positive state through a series of methods," Ray explains to Peter, motioning towards the elaborate setup of slime and wires. "Mostly through music conditioning and positive thought waves amplified by this special headgear," Ray adds, holding up Egon's cap. 

"And that's not all," Egon adds as he moves a long canister-like object with a strap away from the monitor so Venkman can see the information he pulled up. "I ran the name you gave me through the Occult Reference Net…this came up in Leon Zundinger's Magicians, Martyrs and Madmen." Ray and Venkman approach the computer and he reads the screen. 

"'Sixteenth Century Carpathian was in a constant state of spiritual turmoil due principally to the despotic rule of Prince Vigo Von Homberg Deutschendorf , tyrant, sorcerer and psychotic aristocrat….' Sounds like a nice guy." 

"And that's not all…get this, born 1505 died 1610," Ray says. 

"105 years, he hung in there didn't he?" 

"And he didn't die of old age either," Egon tells him. "He was poisoned, stabbed, shot, hung, stretched, disemboweled, drawn and quartered." 

"Ouch," Peter says. "Let me guess, he wasn't a people person." 

"He was known as Vigo the Cruel, Vigo the Torturer, Vigo the Despised and Vigo the Unholy," Egon tells him. 

"Howabout 'Vigo the Butch'?" Venkman asks. 

"And there's a prophecy," Ray adds, "just before his head died, his last words were 'Death is but a door, time is but a window, I'll be back.'" Ray looks towards the slime jars. "And his forte was spells dealing with supernatural forces and in particular the raising of dead spirits." 

"So you think the slime is connected?" Peter asks. 

"Is the atomic number of Cobalt 58.9?" Egon asks in response. Peter gives him a blank look, then turns to Ray who nods that it is. 

"That would explain why every time we try to get back down into the tunnels to learn more about the river of slime we suddenly grow incredibly busy." 

"Alright, well Mr. Vigo's going to be investigated whether he likes it or not," Peter says firmly. "You guys grab Winston and head over to Dana's place, see what you can find with the tub. I'll stay here and make sure she stays safe." 

"Sounds like a plan," Ray says, heading out of the lab. Egon takes off his lab coat and throws it up on a bookshelf as he follows Ray out. Peter starts after them, but quickly doubles back and grabs the coat off the shelf before heading out. 

Ecto-1 pulls out of the garage bay as Peter comes down the stairs. Dana holds Oscar close to her wearing a t-shirt with the company's logo on it and a little better composed as she smiles up at Peter as he approaches. 

"This was all I could find, but I'm sure it'll do," he says, laying down the coat on the desk folded in half. Dana lays Oscar down on it as Peter begins to tie him into it. "Feel free to give this your own personal touch, big guy." 

"Isn't that Egon's coat?" Dana asks, holding back a laugh as she picks him back up with his new "diaper". 

"Huh, I believe it is," Peter says with a smile. "You're gonna be staying at uncle Pete's for a while until this whole thing blows over," he says to Oscar, tickling him to get him laughing. He looks up at Dana, trying to look a little serious. "This is your place now." 

Upstairs, Peter leads Dana into the bedroom area and over to one of the beds. He plops down on it and sets himself up as if he was making a sexy pose for a camera. Dana looks around the room and tries to hide the look of disgust from her face. 

Winston, with his military background, was trained in being the neatest of the four. Although his bed is hastily made and clothing sticks out of his dresser drawers, there's less debris on the floor or under the bed. Egon's was the area littered with snack wrappers and papers full of scientific notes. Ray's area was clearly the one with a stack of paranormal books, auto magazines and a Mr. Stay Puft plush on his pillow. Venkman's was the worst by far. She was pretty sure she saw something breathing under his bed. Pizza boxes, Chinese food containers, beer bottles, cigarette packs and snack boxes are scattered throughout the room, particularly under the beds. Dana wonders if any of them ever learned to use a garbage can while earning their PhDs. 

"So, here's how we'll handle the sleeping arrangement…I'll sleep on my side with your curled up behind with your arm draped over me. If we do it the other way," he says, flipping over, "I get your hair stuck in my throat and choke in the night." Dana sits down on the bed, forcing a smile as she tried to think of HAZMAT's number. 

"Howabout me and the baby in the bed and you somewhere else?" Peter makes a thoughtful expression for a few seconds before shaking his head and shrugging. 

"Hey, it's the way to go." Peter sits up next to Dana as she looks down at Oscar. 

"It's so late, but I really don't want to put him down." Peter looks at her, then gets an idea. 

"May I?" he asks. Dana looks at him, surprised. 

"S-sure, go ahead if you want." She moves Oscar closer to him and Peter proceeds to point his finger at him. 

"You're short, your belly button sticks out too far, and you're a terrible burden on your poor mother!" Peter jokes, effectively putting Oscar down.

* * *

Ecto-1 pulls up outside of the museum, lights flashing. Minutes later, every head in the restoration room turns towards the grand arches that line the entranceway as the Ghostbusters enter the room in full regalia with various form of equipment. Around his neck, Peter wears a specialized camera that clacks against the regular Polaroid camera. Ray has a ghost trap clipped to his belt along with his ecto-goggles, and a detector that takes reading from the sensor wand in his hand. Winston holds a modified EMP detector while Egon holds his Giga Meter and a calculator with headphones around his neck connected to a device on his belt. Both men wear their proton packs. 

"Suck in the guts guys, we're the Ghostbusters," Peter says. Each of them takes in a deep breath as Janosz quickly makes his way across the room towards them. Happy, he is not. 

"No! You! Go!" 

"Who's this wiggler?" Ray asks Peter quietly. 

"He's yours, Ray, sick 'im!" Peter snarls. Ray gives him a curious look, then shrugs to himself. He steps out and extends his hand, shaking Janosz's. 

"Hi! Ray Stantz from the Ghostbusters, we're here on a routine spook check," The guys all disperse, utilizing their various forms of equipment as Peter approaches Janosz who looks totally confused. 

"Dr. Wenkman, Dana is no here," 

"Well, I know that, Johnny." 

"Then why are you came?" 

"Well, we got a report of a major creep in the area and you were at the top of our list." Peter looks him over, then puts an arm around him. "Johnny, where in the hell are you from, anyway?" Janosz looks at him strangely. 

"The Upper Vest Side?" Egon walks by, holding up his Giga Meter. 

"The whole room's extremely hot, Peter," he says. 

"Hot? Vat?" Janosz asks. 

"This is one ugly dude," Winston says, walking up to Peter. Peter follows his gaze to see the Vigo painting across the room as Ray begins to scale a small ladder next to it in order to run his sensor wand over it. 

"Oh, that's him! Mr. Ve-go! Vigs!" Peter heads over to the painting, grabbing the specialized camera and holding it up. "Look this way, please!" 

"No! No, no, no!" Janosz says, running ahead of Peter and throwing himself in front of the painting. "No photographs, please, slides are awailable in the gift shop!" Winston rolls his eyes and reaches out, grabbing Janosz's arm and pulling him away forcefully. 

"Thank you, Winston. Okay, can you give me angry? You're cranky, you've had a bad day…yeah! That's it!" Peter says as he begins to snap pictures of the motionless painting. "Yeah, good! Oooh, angrier! Oooh! Angrier! Oooh, I'm scared, you're scaring me! Stop it! Okay, walk for me, talk for me, okay, yeah! Yeah!" Peter continues on as Ray runs his wand up the painting for a final sweep, but stops when his eyes meet Vigo's. He looks hard at them, as if something caught his eye. "I bet the girls like ya, huh? The guys? I bet they both do. Howabout the animals? Do they like ya?" 

Ray stares hard at Vigo's eyes. In a split second, they glow red which is echoed in Ray's eyes, immediately placing him under his thrall. Peter snaps his fingers next to Ray, getting him to drop the arm he held up motionless against the painting as he continues to snap away. "Oooh, that's it! More! Yeah, you're big! You're big! Yeah! Destroy me! Yeah, destroy me! Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah…!" Egon walks behind Peter and taps his shoulders, realizing he was getting a little too carried away with his fun. 

"We need to talk," he says as he starts for the door. Peter looks back up at Vigo and shrugs. 

"I've worked with better, but not many." He follows Egon. Janosz rubs his temples as Winston notices that Ray is standing limply on the ladder, his jaw open and a dumb expression on his face. He heads over and taps him on the arm, snapping him out of whatever he was under. 

"Hey, man, you done?" he asks. Ray looks around, a little confused. He wipes the line of drool off the side of his mouth. 

"Uh, yeah, I'm done. Why?" he asks as he starts down off the ladder. 

"You're not coming down with something, are ya?" 

"Who, me?" 

Outside, Peter helps Egon off with his pack before he places it onto the rack inside the back of Ecto-1. Winston and Ray join them, shedding their own equipment to place inside the car. 

"So, what'd we get?" Ray asks. 

"Definitely an intensive amount of psycho-kinetic activity resonating within the building," Egon says. "Oddly enough, though, the majority of it seemed to be coming from a source OUTSIDE of the room." 

"Yeah, that goes along with my readings," Ray adds as he helps Winston off with his pack. "According to the scanner, the painting itself only has a faint trace of PKE activity." 

"So, what, Vigo's clean?" Peter asks. 

"Not necessarily," Egon assures him. 

"The painting could be acting like a locked door, you can hear muffled voices from behind it but you can't open it for clarity unless you have the key," Ray explains as he slides the rack back into the car and shuts the door. 

"Which means Vigo's energy as a whole may be invested in the slime we've been finding around the city. We'll know for certain once we analyze the photos you took in the Spectrograph," Egon says. 

"Alright, in the meantime, we should definitely keep an eye on that crazy dude in there," Winston says, shaking his head. 

"You mean Vigo?" Ray asks. 

"Him too," Winston says with a smirk. Ray chuckles a bit. The four of them begin to head towards their respective doors. 

"We should also consider seriously investigating that slime flow under First Avenue as soon as possible, see if we can't learn something about its origins and perhaps unlock a weakness in Vigo," Egon says as he climbs inside Ecto-1 and closes the door. 

"Right," Ray agrees as he starts the car up. 

"First, we go check on Dana, make sure she hasn't had any more unexpected bath-time emergencies," Peter says. 

"I could do with some sleep too, man I'm beat," Winston agrees. 

"No rest for the wicked," Ray says with a smirk as he turns the wheel and begins to pull the car away from the curb, unaware to his friends that his eyes quickly flash with red energy and fade just as fast.

* * *

Inside the museum, Vigo's eyes quickly flash with the same energy as his painted scowl twists up into a sinister smirk.

* * *

The light turns red at the intersection and the cars all begin to slow down before the crosswalk; except for Ecto-1. Ray guns the motor and the car whips through the light, causing the crossing traffic to swerve lest they hit it. 

"Li'l anxious, Ray?" Winston asks, looking at him. 

"I just hate reds." Ray turns the wheel hard to the right, turning down a street while cutting off the car next to him and screeching the tires. Ecto-1 almost threatens to topple over from the high speed turn as Ray recovers and continues driving fast. From the back jumper seat, Peter looks at Ray and blinks, thrown by the turn. 

"Maybe you should slow down…" Peter suggests. 

"Are you telling me how to drive!" Ray yells back at him. 

"Ray, what is with you! You're gonna kill someone!" Winston shouts. 

"Wrong…I'm gonna kill EVERYONE!" Ray responds, laughing sinisterly. Peter slowly turns to Egon across from him. 

"Ray's gone bye-bye, Egon," he says as he grabs a hold of his seatbelt and clenches his eyes. Egon does the same as Ray makes another sharp turn, forcing the others against their respective doors. 

"Holy shit!" Winston says as he sees Ray is speeding directly for Battery Park with little signs of slowing down. Winston's eyes grow wide as he sees the park is full of people walking around on this unusually warm winter's day. He grabs for the radio and clicks on the outside speaker. "GET OUTTA THE WAY! RUNAWAY CAR! MOVE IT, PEOPLE! MOVE!" he shouts over it. That did the trick as pedestrians scatter when Ecto-1 hops the curb and enters the park. 

"Yeah, run! For whatever good it will do you pitiful ants!" Ray says laughingly. 

Winston drops the receiver and grabs the steering wheel, forcing it to turn just before the car crashed into The Immigrants statue outside Castle Clinton. However, now the Korean War Memorial was on a direct collision course. Fed up, Winston slugs Ray, then reaches over to slam his foot down on the brakes. The tries screech to a halt as the front bumper gently taps the fencing around the memorial. He throws the car in park and grabs Ray's collar. 

"Ray! What the hell is wrong with you! Are you crazy, you stupid shit!" 

"Wuh-Winston? Huh? What happened?" Ray asks confused as he rubs his cheek. 

"Winston, back up a second," Egon says, leaning over the bench seat with his PKE Meter. The wings extend fully outward, and Egon shakes his head. "Just as I thought, a faint ectoplasmic trace. You were under a trance." 

"Huh…I don't remember anything…" 

"No shit, Francine!" Peter exclaims as he tries to unhook his belt. "That's why they call it a TRANCE! You could be sitting on the Empire State Building clucking like a chicken to the tune of 'I'm A Little Teapot' in your underwear and not remember it…HOW DO YOU UNHOOK THIS DAMN THING?" Peter tries to rip the belt out of the seat, growling in frustration. 

"Ray, when we get back to the firehouse I want to run some tests on you to make sure there's no lingering effect," Egon says. 

"Yeah, and in the meantime _I'm_ driving!" Winston states. 


	7. A FRIGHT OUT

Peter walks into the bedroom area carrying a suitcase and a bouquet of flowers. He looks around the empty room, noticing something different about it. "Dana, it's your prince!" he calls. He looks around the bedroom area, then turns all around the room, finding no trace of the clutter that once occupied most of the space. "Oh, no. Oh, no…she cleaned!" he grumbles as Dana enters the room wrapped in a towel with her hair dripping wet. 

"Oh, hey. I was just taking a shower," she says. 

"Are you all squeaky clean now?" Peter quips. 

"Yes, I'm very clean," she says, rolling her eyes. "Did the guys find anything at my apartment last night?" 

"Well, they stayed there all night, went through all your personal stuff, made a bunch of long-distance phone calls, cleaned out your fridge, tried on some of your underwear…" 

"Peter…" 

"They found a little bit of pink slime residue around the tub, but that was it," he says, being serious for a moment. Dana shakes her head as she sits down on one of the beds. 

"Great, now what?" 

"Now, you're going to get dressed and get crazy with me on the streets of Manhattan tonight." 

"Woah, I don't think I need to be going out…" 

"No, this is exactly what you need, I have got you a babysitter! The whole thing's wired!" 

"Peter, I don't feel right leaving Oscar alone in a strange place with a strange person." 

"Strange person? Try Janine Melnitz…" 

"Yes?" Janine asks as she enters the room, carrying Oscar. Dana walks over to them, smiling and tickling Oscar's cheeks. 

"Hey, you!" she says as she takes him from Janine's arms. 

"Janine, beautiful timing…I was just telling Dana how you'd happily baby-sit Oscar tonight," Peter says, making a pleading motion while Dana's back is turned. Janine glares at him and sighs. 

"I don't want you to go to any trouble…" Dana starts. 

"Oh, no! I'd be happy to. He's such a sweet baby, I don't mind at all," Janine says, tickling Oscar while smiling at him. 

"Well, if you're sure, thank you." Dana carries Oscar away as Peter quickly slides over to Janine. 

"You owe me," she whispers angrily. 

"Oh, come on…like you really had anything better to do tonight than sit at home with a frozen dinner watching TV and moping over the fact Egon's completely oblivious towards you," Peter whispers back. Janine starts to deliver a come-back, until she realizes he's completely right. She sighs and shakes her head as she turns to leave. 

"You still owe me for the flowers!" she says as Peter ushers her out of the door. 

"The flowers! Right…first chance I get thank you buh-bye!" He shuts the door behind her and turns back to Dana as she sets Oscar down in the center of four pillows on one of the beds. She turns around to be greeted by the bouquet in Peter's outstretched hand, his smile clearly visible behind them. She smirks as she takes them. 

"Thank you," she says as she smells them. Peter holds up the suitcase. 

"And that's not all. I got you some things from your apartment, some provocative ensembles and combinations that I'll leave totally up to you." 

"Well, alright, but after dinner don't try any of those old cheap moves on me." 

"Oh, no, I've got totally new cheap moves." 

Downstairs in the lab, Winston reclines back at one of the desks with his feet up, taking a well-deserved nap. Meanwhile behind him, Ray and Egon work inside a bathroom converted into a darkroom. A table with pans of the developing chemicals sits against one wall with a line for drying photographs above it. Against the other wall is a machine that resembles a photocopier called a Spectrogram positioned in front of the toilet. A red light fills the room from the bulb over the sink and mirror. Egon holds up a giant magnifying glass to one of the drying pictures Peter took of Vigo in the museum. The picture shows a transparent ripple around Vigo's body, as well as distortions in the painting's background. 

"We were right, Ray…multi-planer emanations. The painting is some kind of gateway," Egon tells him. 

"Well, here's your next month's cover of GQ…check out the aura on this sucker," Ray says as he removes the photograph from the analyzer with a pair of tongs. He holds it up to the line and clips it to it. "There's definitely a living presence there." 

"Let's try running this wider shot through the spectral analyzer," Egon suggests as he looks at the picture Ray hung up. Ray removes the picture from the stopper pan and turns to the machine. He sets it down and inserts it into a slot. Egon sets down the magnifying glass and crouches down to a keypad on the device. "I'll turn up the renkins." The picture begins to slide through the machine. 

"So, what do you think…Chinese?" Ray asks. 

"How about Italian?" Egon suggests.

* * *

Meanwhile at the museum, Janosz hurriedly scuttles about the restoration room, removing easels and paintings from the center of the room, leaving a wide open space in front of Vigo. Vigo, however, does more than stand there as he sees through another's eyes. He watches as Egon removes the photograph in front of him and carries it past a body not his own towards the line. He watches as he hangs it up in front of him, watching as feet not his own move him closer into the image.

* * *

"What the hell is that?" Egon asks, holding up his magnifying glass. Ray looks through it over his shoulder, then steps back with a solemn expression on his face. 

"That's it. That's the connection we've been looking for." 

"The river of slime," Egon utters. The picture that was once Vigo's full form is now that of a giant space swirling with supernatural energy. Romanesque columns line either side of the massive river, waterfalls flowing into it from between them. In the center of it all floats Vigo's head, larger than life and twice as ugly. His skin appears to have more texture and his eyes are sunk back into his head. Two small lumps protrude from the top of his forehead, while his eyes are as empty and hollow as his soul must be. 

"This must be the dimension of origin for the river," Ray says, unaware that his eyes had just flashed with energy. The small lock on the door begins to glow with the same energy as it slides into place. 

"Which means there's a doorway somewhere underground as well which would serve as the point of origin for the river in our realm. It MUST be where Vigo is harnessing his power. If we find it, shut the door…" 

"Then Vigo is cut off!" Ray says with a smile. 

"Precisely! Let's get the others." Just as Egon stands up, suddenly the picture bursts into flames. Both of them jump as the rest of the pictures flame up as well, including the chemicals in their pans. 

"What the hell!" Ray exclaims. 

"Uhh…Ray…?" 

"We need a blanket or a hose or something!" Ray says as he turns for the door. He pulls at it, but it won't budge. He tries to open the lock, but it's jammed. "Why the hell is this closed! Winston!" he calls. 

"Winston!" Egon joins in, both men banging on the door as the flames begin to engulf the room. "WINSTON!" 

Outside, Winston falls back out of his chair as the sudden commotion wakes him out of a sound slumber. He shakes his head, trying to get his bearings. 

"FIRE! WINSTON, HELP!" he hears from within the darkroom. He scrambles to his feet and grabs the fire extinguisher off the nearby wall. He runs to the door and tries it, finding it locked. 

"Step back!" he shouts. 

"Get back!" Egon says, pulling Ray to the far wall. 

"Great, what're we gonna do, put our heads in the toilet!" Ray asks. Winston holds up the extinguisher and with all his might rams it into the door. Once, twice, three times and he breaks off the piece with the lock. He jumps into the room, grabbing the hose and squeezing the handle, sending out the fluid within over the burning area. Within seconds, the fire is out, leaving nothing but a smoldering mess. 

Peter heads down the stairs, wearing one of his best suits and ties, adjusting the sleeves of his jacket with his coat hung over his arm. He reaches the landing and throws it on, looking over at Janine at her desk. 

"Janine, could you call a cab for me, please?" 

"Yes, Dr. Venkman. Your wish is my command, Dr. Venkman. Anything else, Dr. Venkman? A kidney? A lung?" Janine responds sarcastically, picking up the phone. 

"I could do with less sarcasm. That's my shtick." Peter adjusts his collar as he turns to the sound of bodies sliding down the fire poles. He stares dumbfounded as Egon, Ray and Winston stand before him, each one wearing waders and rain coats. 

"Great, you're still here!" Ray says. "We have incredible news!" Peter looks them all over. 

"Wait, don't tell me…all you can eat bar-b-q rib night at the Sizzler." 

"No, we analyzed the photos you took of Vigo, and the Spectrogram shows a river of slime flowing behind him," Egon says. 

"Just like the one I saw underground," Ray adds. "We're heading down into the sewer and subway system now to see if we can trace the source of the slime flow. 

"Yeah, c'mon, change your clothes. We'll wait for you," Egon says. 

"Yeah, Egon thinks there might even be a huge breeding surge in the cockroach population," Winston says. 

"Hello, boys," Dana says from the stairs. The boys all turn to look up at her as she comes down, their jaws all dropping to the floor. She wears an elegant dress and looks simply beautiful as she moves down the stairs and stands next to Peter. 

"Hi," they respond quietly. 

"Dana, the guys are going down to the sewer to look for slime stuff, and Egon thinks there may be a huge serge in cockroach breeding. You wanna blow off this dinner thing and go with them?" 

"Your cab's outside, Dr. Venkman," Janine calls from the desk. Dana smiles at Peter and starts for the door. 

"I'll hold the cab," she says as she goes. Peter looks at the guys, smiling smugly. 

"Women, huh?" He follows her towards the doors with a victorious smile as the guys turn towards Ecto-1, defeated.

* * *

Deep below the city lies hundreds of miles of track and tunnel. The New York City was always evolving since its inception in 1904. As new more efficient routes were dreamed up and opened as well as the amount of riders on certain lines dropped, lines or stations were closed to be more cost-effective. These were often left dark, cold and buried, some of the lines used as an alternate when needed or for commercial transit. This particular tunnel was one of the forgotten ones. 

Egon, Ray and Winston move carefully along the tracks, the only light coming from the tunnel above, the mining helmets they wear, and Winston and Ray's flashlights. The silence in the tunnel is deafening save for their light footsteps and dripping water somewhere nearby. 

Winston spans the walls with his lights, looking as they crack and chip from age and lack of care. Years of spider webs line both ends of the wall, hanging down off the ceiling. He uses his shovel as a walking stick as he goes. Ray holds a pickaxe on his shoulder as he fumbles in the darkness with an old transit map he acquired from the hall of records. He struggles to hold onto the axe while holding the map at the same time and checking their location with his light. Egon carries his shovel over his shoulder as he pays attention to the PKE meter held out in front of him. Suddenly, the silence is broken when Winston trips on a piece of track, startling the others. 

"Will you be careful!" Ray exclaims. 

"Sorry!" Winston says as he regains his footing. "I hate this." 

"According to this old transit map, there should be an entrance somewhere along here…" Ray says. 

"I'm not getting anything yet," Egon says, looking around before returning to his meter. 

"At least it's too dark to see the cockroaches," Winston mutters, carefully looking around. 

"Forget about the cockroaches, it's the subway rats you gotta worry about," Ray says as he folds up the map and puts it into a pouch on his belt. "They can be as big as beavers." 

"Yeah, sometimes they grow to four or five kilos," Egon adds. 

"H-Hey, enough, alright?" Winston says, starting to get a little jittery. 

"Listen to 'em. You can hear them scratching behind the walls," Ray continues as Winston nervously looks around. "There must be thousands of them!" 

"Hey, just shut up about the damn rats!" Winston shouts. 

"Okay, okay!" Ray looks around the tunnel. "Hello!" he shouts for no particular reason, hearing his echo coming back at them as his voice bounces off the walls in the large, empty space. Ray looks at the others, laughing like a little kid. Egon and Winston exchange glances before Egon looks down into the darkness. 

"Hey!" he shouts, his voice coming back. Winston shakes his head, deciding it was definitely a good tension breaker. 

"Hello!" he shouts down the tunnel. They wait, but hear no sound. Suddenly, the PKE Meter starts to go wild. 

"_**WIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINSTONNNNNNNNNN…**_" a booming inhuman voice says from behind them. Their eyes grow wide as they turn around, slowly backing up as they look nervously down the tunnel. 

"O-Okay…I'm outta here!" he says. They turn around only to come face to face with a horde of disembodied heads. Their screams fill the tunnel as each one floats before them in a grizzly state of death. The trio tries to move in different directions, screaming at the top of their lungs, but find that they're completely surrounded by the grotesque heads. They turn around again only to find empty track. They stop screaming as they look around, seeing that all the heads are gone. The tunnel grows silent once again. 

"What the…?" Ray asks, panting. 

"Before we go any further, I think we should get our proton packs," Egon suggests. The other two nod in silent agreement. They turn around and start back the way they came, slowly and quietly walking down the tracks. They stop as they hear a rumbling sound. 

"What's that?" Winston asks. 

"What's what?" Ray asks. 

"Sounds like…a train…" 

"Nuh-uh, these lines've been abandoned for 50 years." 

"Oh…" Winston says, thinking that in their line of work what the hell did that really mean? They start down the tracks again, but this time the sound grows louder, accompanied by the grinding of the wheels on the track as the brakes are applied. Ray's eyes open wide as his heart begins to thump with fear. 

"Probably in one of the tunnels above us," Egon says, trying to fight back his fear with familiar logic. They all look up at the dark ceiling. 

"I dunno, sounds pretty close to me…" Winston says. They look back down when the tunnel begins to grow brighter. In the distance, they see a singular light as the sounds of an old-fashioned steam engine grow louder and closer. The transparent train comes into view, showing no signs of slowing as it barrels down on the three Ghostbusters. They shout as Ray and Egon dive off to the side, leaving Winston screaming on the track as the train meets up with him and passes right through him, sending his helmet flying to the floor. 

As the caboose passes, Winston stops screaming, paralyzed with fear as he shakes his head, trying to recover from the experience. Egon comes down from the small platform against the wall and runs over to him, looking down the tunnel after the train. 

"I think that was the old New York Central, City of Albany! Derailed in 1920, killed hundreds of people! Did you catch the number on the locomotive?" Winston turns around slowly, following his gaze down the tunnel. 

"Sorry, I missed it…" he says, resisting the urge to clock Egon one. He bends down to grab his helmet and puts it back on. 

"Something's trying to stop us, we must be getting close," Egon declares. 

"I really hate this," Winston mumbles. He stops and looks around. "Where's Ray?" Egon finally notices Ray missing as well, and joins him in searching around the tunnel. "Ray?" 

"Ray?" 

"Guys!" They jump as Ray comes up from behind. "Ooops, sorry…I found it!" 

"What?" Egon asks. 

"Over here, there's a hole!" He leads them over to his hiding place by the wall and they follow. 

"What about the packs! What about the packs!" Winston asks deaf ears. 

Their tools cut through the rocks that have crumbled onto the stairwell, jogging them loose and sending them down the stairs beneath them. The Ghostbusters fight to keep their balance as they climb over them and proceed down to the first landing. They stare in awe as they look beyond the archway into the large chamber. 

The station curves up to a rounded roof, every square inch covered in old tile work as was customary for the period. Protective rails stand at the edge of the platform, covered in years of rust and neglect. The platform itself is littered with garbage and chunks of debris from the walls and ceiling that have come loose and fallen. Decorative lamps line the walls and either side of the tunnel entranceway, covered and filled entirely with cobwebs like the rest of the area. The entire station is filled by the pink glow coming from the bubbling river of slime. 

"Huh? What'd I tell ya? Wasn't lying, was I?" Ray asks as the three of them look down at the river from the edge of the platform. 

"Incredible. You know how much negative energy it must have taken to generate a flow of this size?" Egon asks, astounded. 

"Hey, New York…what a town," Winston says sarcastically. 

"Alright, let's see how deep it is," Egon says. Winston pulls the end of the measuring line from its spool on his belt and dangles it over the edge. He drops it into the river and the sinker on the end begins to take it down. 

"Six feet…" Winston calls as he watches the markings disappear through his hands. "Twelve feet…?" 

"Twelve?" Egon asks. Winston tries to stop the line, but feels it move faster. 

"Hey, something's pulling it!" 

"Well, hold on!" Ray says. 

"I'm trying! Give me a hand!" Egon and Ray rush over to him, holding on to him as the spool begins to spin faster and faster. 

"Get his belt off!" Ray exclaims. They try to fumble with it when the spool runs out and Winston is pulled into the river. 

"Winston!" Egon calls. They see his head poke up halfway down the tunnel before the current takes him around the bend and once again out of sight, his cries bouncing off the walls. Egon and Ray exchange a glance, then take a leap off the platform and into the slime after him.

* * *

Miles away in a contrasting setting at the fabulous Armand Restaurant, Dana and Peter sit at a table inside a very elegant and fancy restaurant. The well-dressed patrons sit at their tables and eat horribly overpriced food in their attempts at a civilized New Years Eve. Dana holds up her wine glass smiling behind it, initiating a toast. 

"Here's to the most charming, kindest…" 

"Oh, it's me," Peter says jokingly. 

"Yes, it's you," Dana continues, "…and most unusual man I've ever broken up with." Peter gives her a look, but she gives him a playful smile. They tap glasses together and Peter smiles as he takes a sip. Peter sets his glass down and tries to get serious for a moment. 

"Speaking of breaking up, why did you dump me?" 

"I didn't dump you…I was protecting myself. I mean, you weren't very good for me, y'know. You know that, don't you?" 

"Hell, I'm not even good for me." 

"You're much better than you realize. You don't give yourself enough credit." 

"Thank you. I need this kind of support on a daily basis. If I had that, I could definitely have myself whipped into shape by the end of this century." Dana leans in, smiling seductively. 

"Then why don't you just give me a jingle in the year 2000?" 

"Why don't I give you a jungle right now?" They lean in close to each other and lock their lips into a passionate kiss.

* * *

With one Herculean effort, Ray pushes the manhole cover up and off to the side, gasping for air from the strain and the slime choking him. He scrambles up the ladder and onto the street, slipping and sliding as he struggles to stand up. Everything from his boots to his gloves are covered in the slime, steadily dripping down his body as he struggles to regain his bearings. Winston comes up next, extremely annoyed. 

"Nice going, Ray! What're you trying to do, drown me!" 

"Oh yeah, Zeddemore; like it was my fault! You were too stupid to drop that line!" Ray says, carrying on unusually. Winston stands up, his fists clenched and baring his teeth. 

"Hey, you better watch your God damn mouth or I'll beat the shit outta you!" 

"Oh, yeah? Well any time, asshole!" Ray takes a swing at Winston, but it slips on contact. Winston dives at Ray and they begin to grapple as Egon lifts himself through the hole. Complete control and understanding, the one thing any scientist strives for. Egon, as a man of logic, had allowed most of his emotions to fade over time, giving him complete control of his own personal being and a full, uncomplicated understanding of himself. When he feels a burning from within he recognizes as rage, he instantly knows it's not of his own volition. With his two friends going at it a few feet away, he looks down at his slime covered clothing and realizes they're not in control. 

"Stop it, both of you! Take off your clothes now!" Egon says, diving between them and separating them. He begins to rip off his clothing with Winston following. Ray debates whether or not to complete the punch he began, but decides to do what Egon says. Within seconds, all three men are standing in their soaked long johns with their gear on the ground below them. Winston and Ray both feel their thoughts clearing. 

"What the hell? I was ready to kill you!" Winston says, amazed and confused. 

"It's this shit. It's pure concentrated evil," Ray surmises. 

"And it's all flowing…right to this spot," Egon says, looking behind them. Winston and Ray turn to follow his gaze, realizing that the manhole cover they had emerged from was located mere feet away from the steps of the Manhattan Museum of Art.

* * *

Louis fumbles through his keys until he finds the right one, and then inserts it in the bottom drawer of his desk; hastily repaired with some boards and nails. He opens the lock and pulls it out, revealing a tin box inside. He grabs it and places it on top of his desk, fumbling through his keys once again. 

"What're you doing?" Janine asks, holding Oscar while feeding him. 

"I'm going to take care of that ghost!" Louis opens the box and pulls out a pair of mechanic's beige coveralls. He opens them up and holds them against his body, allowing Janine to see it. On the chest area is a black and red crochet name tag that read "Tully" fastened to the suit with safety pins. On the right arm is a patch of a poor rendering of the no-ghost logo, also fastened with safety pins. Louis looks up at Janine and smiles. "My ma made this for me down in Florida. I've been waiting for the right occasion to use it." 

"It's…nice, Louis," Janine lies, giving him a look as he kicks off his shoes and begins to step into the suit. "Why do you wanna be a Ghostbuster anyway? You're already a great accountant." 

"Well, I dunno…I figure if one of the guys get sick or something I could fill in." Louis zips up the front. Janine looks at him worried as the phone begins to rings. She runs over to her desk as he reaches back into the drawer and pulls out a pair of rubber gloves and boots similar to the ones the Ghostbusters wear. After being fully dressed, Louis heads over to one of the wooden lockers against the wall and opens it up. He pulls out a proton pack and one of the belts and begins to put them on. Janine quickly hangs up the phone, watching him and adjusting Oscar in her arms. 

"Uh, Louis, I don't think you should be doing that!" Janine says, jogging over to him. 

"Don't worry Janine; I know exactly what I'm doing!" Louis says with a confident smile as he clips the belt strap of the pack around him. The phone begins to ring again, and Janine looks back at it. She turns back to him. 

"Don't…move!" She runs back over to her desk. While her back is turned, Louis' smile quickly fades and he stumbles a bit. 

"Boy this equipment's heavy!"

* * *

Peter and Dana look towards the door as they hear a commotion coming from the foyer, some people obviously trying to get in. Peter laughs to himself how even in a classy joint like this you can't help but find some crazies. It wasn't until he heard one of those crazies call his name that he realized they were his crazies. Egon, Ray and Winston rush past the Maitre d' and come straight to their table. Peter and Dana eye them strangely as they stand before them, wearing nothing but their long johns and boots and covered entirely in the slime, each one talking a mile a minute about psychomagnetheric slime flows and other big words that was starting to give him a headache. 

"Boys! Boys! You're scaring the straights, okay? Is there anyway we can talk about this tomorrow?" Peter asks, annoyed. 

"No way, it's hot and ready to pop!" Egon exclaims. 

"It's all over the city, Pete—well, under it, actually," Ray says. 

"Rivers of the stuff!" Winston adds. 

"And it's all flowing to the museum," Egon says. 

"Yeah, the museum!" Ray says excitedly, thrusting his arm back to point in the museum's general direction from the restaurant and accidentally causing a glob of slime to fly from his hand and onto the dress of a nearby patron. She screams out in disgust as Ray turns back to the table, embarrassed. "Sorry…" he utters. 

"Wait, do you mean…my museum?" Dana asks them, a little concerned. 

"I was gonna tell you between the desert and the cheese course," Peter says, turning to her. He places a hand on hers reassuringly. "You can never go back there again. We're gonna find you a new job and…uh-oh…" 

"There they are!" the Maitre d' exclaims to the two police officers he pulled inside the restaurant. The officers approach the table, looking down at them. 

"Ghostbusters, you gentlemen are out of uniform," the senior partner says. 

"Uh, we had a little accident, but forget that! We have to see the mayor as soon as possible!" Ray says. 

"Uh-huh, well right now we need you to step outside. Let's go." The officers grab Ray, Winston and Egon and pull them to their feet, forcibly dragging them towards the door. Peter stands up. 

"I, uh…" he says, making a motion that he has to go. Dana nods. 

"I understand," she says. 

"Finish your desert, it's already paid for." Peter throws down his napkin and jogs after the officers and his friends. Outside, Peter grabs the officer's arm and stops them. 

"Woah, officer! Hold up a sec," Peter says. The officer turns around to look at him, but finds Peter staring at his nametag. 

"What the hell are you doing?" he asks, growing annoyed. 

"Getting your names so I can tell the Mayor why we didn't tell him sooner that the world was coming to an end…starting with New York," Peter says with a smile. The officers exchange a glance, unsure of what to do. The senior partner shrugs and turns to Peter. 

"You wanna see the Mayor? Fine. Let's go."

* * *

Louis walks down into the basement, positron rifle drawn as he looks around the room carefully. The green ghost peeks up through the desk, watching him carefully. As Louis reaches the landing, the ghost flies out of the desk and tries to pass through the wall, but the ecto-field in place keeps him from doing so. He looks back at Louis, then begins to fly towards the stairs. Louis, satisfied the room is clear, turns and begins to start for the stairs when he comes face to face with the ghost. 

"Gotcha!" he exclaims, hitting the trigger on the proton gun. The ghost dodges as the beam flies out, and the recoil sends Louis crashing back into the control console, hard. He shakes his head, not noticing the pack had smashed the switch for the ecto-field, causing it to short out and turn off. Louis regains himself and runs up the stairs after the ghost, not seeing the slime rising up from the crack in the floor once again. 

Louis chases the ghost into the garage bay, propping himself up against a column before firing again. The ghost makes one final dive to the wall and passes through, leaving his slime behind on the tiles as the beam hits. Janine ducks as it flies over her head, screaming out. 

"Louis!" 

"Oops!" She stomps over to him and grabs the rifle away from him. 

"That's enough! I'm trying to baby-sit here while you run around trying to be something you're not and gonna wind up killing someone doing it! Either take that God damn thing off now or go home, you got me!" She slams the rifle down on the ground and storms off and back up the stairs. Louis stands there, terrified beyond belief. He was chased by a terror dog and possessed by an evil spirit, but THAT had to be the scariest thing he ever faced.

* * *

The police car leads Ecto-1 through the gate and onto the Gracie Mansion grounds. They stop outside the front door and their occupants emerge. 

"Oh, the Ghostbusters!" the excited doorman exclaims, quickly opening the door as the cops lead them inside. "Hey, you guys got another proton pack? My kid brother really wants one." 

"The proton pack is not a toy," Egon says frankly as he walks inside. 

"I guess he's right," Ray says shrugging as he follows behind Egon.

* * *

Dana enters the firehouse as Janine comes down the stairs. She stops short when she sees her, and then continues down, a curious look on her face. 

"You're back early. What happened?" she asks. 

"Oh, Peter was arrested," Dana says as she removes her coat and stops by the base of the stairs. Janine shakes her head. 

"Typical." 

"How is everything?" 

"Oh, everything's fine. He's such a good baby. He was a little fussy at first, but we gave him some French bread pizza…passed right out." 

"Oh," Dana says, trying to hide the strange look she wants to give Janine. "We?" she asks, realizing her words. 

"Oh yeah, Louis is here. He's upstairs with him now in fact." 

"Ah, well, I think I'll just head on up," Dana says, forcing a pleasant smile. Louis Tully was alone with her baby. Not good. She starts up the stairs as Janine heads over to her desk. 

Louis walks around the bedroom area, carrying Oscar who chews on a toy. Louis paces back and forth, gently rocking the baby as he tells him a story. 

"So, these dwarfs had a limited partnership in a small mining operation and then one day a beautiful princess came to live with them. They bartered room and board in exchange for housekeeping services, which was a good deal for all of them because then they didn't have to withhold tax and social security, which I'm not saying is right but it's just for the purposes of this story so I guess it's all right…" He stops when he sees Dana smiling in the doorway. "Oh, hey!" he says, giving her a nervous smile. She realizes that Louis probably still has a crush on her after all this time. 

"Hello, Louis," Dana says, walking over to him and taking Oscar. "Hello, you!" 

"You're back kinda early, aren't you?" 

"Well, Peter had to go to work. You know, I was watching you…you're actually very good with kids." Louis blushes and looks down at the floor. 

"Well, thanks. I practiced a lot on my hamster." Oscar gives a big yawn, and Dana looks at him, giving him an impressed expression. 

"Well, it looks like he's tired. I'll put him down, Louis." 

"Sure, okay. No problem." Louis turns and heads out of the room, shutting the door behind him as Janine comes up the stairs. "She's putting the baby down." 

"Did she tell you the guys were arrested?" Janine asks him. 

"They were! Oh, boy! What do we do?" 

"I don't know, don't even know where to call. I'm hoping someone will call soon looking for bail money." She stretches and yawns. 

"You look tired. Listen, why don't you go home and get some rest?" Louis says, concerned. 

"Oh, thanks, but I don't think Dana should be left alone right now." 

"That's no problem, I'll stay with her," Louis volunteers, trying to hide his excitement to the idea of being alone with Dana all night. 

"I don't know…" Janine ponders. 

"I promise not to use the proton pack anymore," he says, raising his hand like a scout. 

"Well, alright. I'll leave my number by the phone, call me immediately if you hear from the guys or need anything." 

"You bet!" Janine waves as she heads back downstairs to get her coat and head for home.

* * *

Lenny is already extremely annoyed. Not only does he have to leave his New Years party full of extremely important people to his political career, but he has to leave them for the Ghostbusters. His butler leads him to his office and opens the double doors for him. Lenny enters his lavishly furnished office where the Ghostbusters stand waiting with Hardemeyer in a chair. 

"Lenny!" the Ghostbusters say in unison. Hardemeyer shakes his head as Lenny looks over Egon, Ray and Winston. 

"What the hell is this, a slumber party?" Lenny asks. Hardemeyer chuckles. They begin to explain their appearance when Lenny raises his hands. "I don't want to hear a thing about it. I've got over 200 of the heaviest campaign contributors in the city out there eating bad roast chicken and I'm in here with you putzes. You got two minutes, make it good." He takes a seat in a large chair. The boys exchange glances, wondering how to go about this. Ray takes his cigar out of his mouth and begins to speak. 

"Well, first of all, Mr. Mayor, it's a great pleasure to see you again, and we'd just like to say that almost 50 of us voted for you in the last election." 

"I appreciate that," Lenny says sarcastically. 

"I'm just sorry we always have to meet under these circumstances," Peter says with his sweetest smile from the couch across from Lenny. Lenny just nods his head, giving Peter a dirty look. 

"Mr. Mayor, we're here tonight because there's a psychomagnetheric slime flow of immense proportions building up under the city," Ray continues, getting right to the point. 

"Psycho what?" Lenny asks, blinking. 

"Psychomagnetheric," Egon says, trying to clarify it for Lenny. 

"Big word," Peter adds. 

"Negative human emotions are materializing in the form of a viscous psycho reactive plasm with explosive supernormal potential," Egon finishes. Lenny looks at them all like they're nuts. 

"Does anyone speak English here?" Lenny asks. Hardemeyer starts to say something, but Winston cuts him off as he crouches down by Lenny's chair. 

"Yeah, your honor. What we're trying to tell you is all the bad feelings, I mean all the hate, anger and violence of this city is turning into this sludge. Now, I didn't believe it at first either, but we went for a swim in it and almost wound up killing each other!" 

"This is insane!" Hardemeyer interjects, "I mean, do we really have to listen to this?" Peter gets up and walks over to him, waving his hand in front of his face. 

"Can't you stop your lips from flapping for two little minutes? Lenny, have you been out on the street lately? Do you know how weird it is out there? We've taken our own head count; there seem to be 3 million completely miserable assholes living in the tri-state area!" 

"Oh, please!" Hardemeyer mutters. Peter turns to him and leans down on him. 

"I'm sorry, 3 million and 1." 

"Hey!" 

"And what budgey brain here doesn't realize is that if we don't do something fast this whole place will blow like a frog on a hot plate," Ray says. 

"Yeah, right," Hardemeyer says. Lenny stands up, clenching his eyes to fight back his tension headache. 

"I didn't understand one damn thing any of you just said, and frankly, I don't care. You say the city's in trouble? Well, when it happens we'll deal with it, that's it," Lenny starts for the door. 

"But, Lenny…" Peter starts. He turns fast and points at him. 

"I don't wanna hear it, Venkman! I don't give a shit how many registered voters I'm gonna save or what kind of ancient evil is gonna drop down where. All the hate is causing this? Well, what do you want me to do, go on television and tell 8 million people they have to be nice to each other? Being miserable and treating other people like dirt is every New Yorker's God-given right! Your two minutes are up, gentlemen, goodnight!" The butler opens the door and Lenny storms out. 

"You're making a big mistake, Mr. Mayor!" Ray shouts after him as the Ghostbusters run to the door as it shuts behind the butler. 

"A very newsworthy mistake," Peter adds. "I bet the Times would love this and you know the Post…" 

"Woah, woah, woah! Now wait a minute!" Hardemeyer tries to interrupt, standing up. 

"I could see the headlines," Winston says, "'Mayor Hides Slime'." 

"'Times Square Slimed'…" Ray starts, thinking. 

"'Slime Square'," Egon suggest. 

"'Slime Square'!" Ray agrees. The others all nod along with that idea. 

"Fine, fine, fine…now, before you go running off to the newspapers with this, would you mind telling this slime business to some of our people downtown?" Hardemeyer asks with a kindly smile. The guys all exchange a glance. 

"It has to be done right away," Ray says.

* * *

The double doors swing open at Parkview Hospital as the orderlies usher the Ghostbusters through, each one bound in a straight jacket. Egon, Ray and Winston all struggle against their confines, screaming about helping people and the world being in danger. Peter walks along calmly, his mind wander to where he should be, having dinner with Dana and possibly a special desert. But no, instead he's here, deemed insane, and about to be locked up for what very well may be the rest of his life…which may not last past midnight. Hardemeyer walks with the head doctor behind them, stopping in the hallway. 

"The mayor wants to keep them under strict observation for the next few days. We think they're seriously disturbed and potentially dangerous." 

"Well, we'll see what we can do," the doctor tells him. 

"Thank you, doctor," Hardemeyer says, shaking his hand. The doctor continues down the hall after the Ghostbusters, as Hardemeyer watches them with an extremely smug smile on his face. He takes in a deep breath as his annoyance has just been alleviated and proceeds to leave the hospital. 


	8. VIGO TAKES MANHATTAN

Inside the restoration room, Janosz lights the final candle. Over the course of the night, he has moved every stitch of furniture off to the sides of the room, giving Vigo the central position by the front wall. All around the room candles are set up in various patterns as he kneels in the center of one of them. He throws the match aside as he looks towards the painting.

"I await the words of Vigo!" Before him, the painting has returned to its altered state, the river of slime flowing beneath his floating head.

"**I Vigo, the scourge of Carpathia…**" Vigo starts.

"I know, you told me all this, the scourge…"

"…**the sorrow of Moldavia…**"

"Sorrow, I've heard all of this, yes…"

"…**command you!**"

"Command me, Lord."

"**The season of my rebirth begins with the birth of the new year.**"

"Good!"

"**Bring me the child that I might live again.**"

"Yes!" Janosz says passionately with a smile. His smile fades as a thought crosses his mind. "Eh, Lord Vigo, I vas wondering…" he starts, lying down on the floor, "this woman Dana is fine and strong." Vigo turns his head, a thoughtful expression on his face as he listens. Janosz touches the flame of a candle as he continues to talk. "Now, if I vas to bring the baby, could I have the woman?" He begins to sit up, ready to beg for his life if he had offended his master in any way with his demands. Vigo remains silent for a few moments, and then delivers his answer.

"**So be it! On this day of darkness she will be ours; wife to you and mother to me!**" His smile would have sent shivers down Janosz's spine if not for Vigo's strong hold over him. Janosz leaps up, happy.

"Thank you, Lord, thank you!"

* * *

Dana's eyes glaze over. She sits in the chair in the Ghostbusters' living area trying to focus on Citizen Kane on the TV. Unfortunately, focusing on it has proven to be rather difficult as Louis has been talking about all the financial aspects that have gone into making the movie. This is a man who loves his job a little too much.

"You know, you really don't have to stay…I'm sure they'll be back soon," Dana says, checking her watch.

"Oh, no, I don't mind. After all, what are friends for?" Louis asks, cramming his mouth full of popcorn in his seat on the couch.

"Yupp," Dana sighs.

* * *

In the bedroom area, Oscar crawls around inside the makeshift crib made for him on the bed with pillows wearing his yellow Winnie the Pooh pajamas. He turns around as he hears a squeak behind him. The bedroom window slowly opens on its own as the wind begins to pick up outside.

* * *

Dana has had just about enough and decides to get out of there before she explodes. She stands up quickly, trying to think up a good excuse before hurting Louis' feelings. He may be annoying, but he's still a human being. "I'm gonna go check on Oscar, be right back."

"I'll be here," he says, cramming in some more popcorn. Dana heads towards the bedroom area. She opens the door and smiles as she approaches the bed. The smile quickly fades when she sees the bed is empty.

"Oscar?" She looks up when she feels a breeze and sees the window open. "Oscar…" she whispers to herself as she runs over to it. She sticks her head out, and finds her son standing upright at the end of the ledge over Varick. "OSCAR!" she screams. "LOUIS!" she calls out as she begins to climb onto the ledge. Louis runs into the room, frantically looking around.

"What the…?" He runs over to the windows and sticks his head out as Dana carefully makes her way along the ledge. "Oh my God!" he says, seeing the baby at the corner. Then, something in the sky catches his eye. "Dana, look!" He points up. Dana looks back, and then follows his finger to see a blue glowing entity streaking down out of the sky and coming towards the firehouse. Dana becomes paralyzed as the entity comes close enough for them to see the dated nanny's uniform and an old baby buggy. Dana's eyes grow wide as the translucent creature's face becomes clear, recognizing Janosz instantly.

He smiles sinisterly at her, his eyes glowing bright red. Dana scrambles to reach her baby, but Janosz's hand extends outward to cover the distance between him and the building, snatching up Oscar before Dana could grab him. He laughs silently as he places Oscar in the buggy.

"NOOOOOOOOOOO!" Dana screams. Janosz winks at her before turning and flying back the way he came. Dana scrambles back inside the firehouse, pushing her way past Louis.

"That was a ghost!" he says, his voice shaky as his fear is evident.

"No…that was Janosz! Janosz took my baby…the museum!" Dana quickly runs out of the room and heads to the stairs. Louis runs after her and stops at the landing.

"Wait, what's going on!" Moments later, he hears the firehouse door slam, and he looks up, trying to figure out what to do. "I gotta find the guys!" he says to himself.

* * *

Inside a room at Parkview Hospital, the Ghostbusters are seated around a rectangular table with the doctor, each wearing hospital issued clothing. The room is dark save for the small light above the table. A window behind them has bars and the blinds are shut. By the only exit a very muscular orderly stands with his arms crossed. On the table is a tape recorder and cups of water.

Egon stares off into space, trying to figure out what this would mean to his standings in the scientific community. Peter sits next to him, his head on the table as he tries to figure out all the ways he could kill Ray and Egon without being caught for getting him into this mess. Winston looks over at the window, dreaming about getting out of here soon. Next to him, Ray sits with his arms folded as, for the billionth time, he tries to explain to the doctor the situation at hand.

"As I've said before, we believe the spirit of a 16th Century Moldavian tyrant is alive and well inside a painting at the Manhattan Museum of Art."

"Uh huh," says the doctor in uninterested disbelief as he puffs on his cigarette. "And, are there any other paintings in the museum with bad spirits in them?" Egon shakes his head.

"You're wasting time. He's drawing strength from a psychomagnetheric slime flow that's been collecting under the city."

"Yes, tell me about this slime."

"It's very potent stuff," Winston starts, "we made our toaster dance with it. And a bath tub tried to eat his friend's baby," he finishes, motioning to Peter. Peter picks his head up as the doctor looks over at him.

"The bathtub?" the doctor asks.

"Don't look at me, I think these people are completely nuts," Peter says.

* * *

Meanwhile, in the Van Horne station, the river of slime begins to spill over the platform. It slowly and steadily begins to rise until the entire station is underneath the flowing mass, but it doesn't stop there.

* * *

A cab pulls up outside of the museum and Dana gets out after paying the driver. She looks around as the cab speeds off, trying to keep her hair out of her face with the strong winds blowing all around her. She turns to the museum, takes a deep breath, and then begins to ascend the stairs. She grabs onto the railing, fighting against the wind as it grows stronger with each step. Newspapers and various pieces of litter fly around her, hitting her and clinging to her body. She makes it to the revolving door at the top of the stairs and pushes her way through.

As soon as she disappears inside, the door's shutters slide closed and locks. From the top of them, mood slime begins to pour out rapidly, coating the shutters entirely and gathering into a puddle on the stairs. More slime begins to pour out from various crevices of the museum, pooling around its base. As the volume increases, the slime begins to rise up from its puddles, defying gravity as it coats the sides of the museum. Once it's completely covered, the slime solidifies and becomes an impenetrable shell, ensuring that none may enter to disturb the process.

* * *

Inside, Dana slowly walks through the empty hallways, her boots causing light echoes bouncing off the marble walls. She turns into the restoration room and looks around at the wide open space littered with candles. Across from her stands Vigo's painting. In front of it is a stone pedestal covered in strange markings with a soft cushion on top. On the cushion sits Oscar. Seeing no one around, Dana quickly runs across the room, carefully stepping over the candles, and picks up Oscar, holding him tight.

"Oh, sweetheart, I thought I lost you!" Janosz slowly pokes his head out from behind a support column, smiling as he watches Dana's joyful reunion. He steps out, trying to figure out how to handle this.

"Hello, Dana," he starts, a little nervous. Dana steps back, fear and rage flowing through her body. "I thought that you might come."

"You stay away, Janosz! I mean it!"

"Oh, don't be worried, he vill not be harmed!" Janosz says, continuing to step slowly forward. "He has been chosen to be the vessel for the spirit of Vigo, and you vill be the mother of the ruler of the world. Doesn't that sound nice?"

"No! It sounds ludicrous! You stay away from him, I mean it!" Dana says, continuing to slowly back up towards the arches that lead into the room.

"I don't think we have choice here. Take a look, that's not Gainsborough's Blue Boy there," Janosz says, motioning towards the painting. "He's Vigo!" He says, making a saluting motion.

"I don't care who he is, he's not taking my baby!" Dana turns and starts to run out, but suddenly she's pushed forward as if thrown by invisible hands, the same hands that yank Oscar out of her grasp. She slides along the floor and back out of the room, slamming into the wall across the way as the room's gates shut themselves. Oscar floats back across the room and gently drops back down to his original resting place.

* * *

The slime begins to rise up through the cracks of foundation and the lines of pipes that travel the length of the city. It pushes itself up through the sewers and out of fixtures, securing its grasp on New York.

* * *

**TIMES SQUARE**  
Slime drips down a movie theater's marquee and onto the sidewalk below. The crowd of moviegoers from within come bursting out of the doors, screaming and running in terror. Seconds later, a long ghost with four boney arms, six eyes and gargoyle wings comes flying out after them, roaring fiercely.

* * *

**THE SEDGEWICK HOTEL**  
Slime bubbles up through a grating and forms a puddle on the sidewalk around it. Outside of the Sedgewick Hotel, a middle-aged woman wearing an elegant dress and fur coat paces back and forth impatiently. She has a very important party she simply has to be at, and the doorman is taking forever getting her a cab. She doesn't notice one of her high heeled shoes being immersed into the slime puddle as she turns to pace back in the other direction. She fluffs her hair with her fingers until she feels something moving in her coat.

She looks down as four minks pop out of it, squealing. She screams as they try to claw and bite at her. Somehow, she manages to get the coat off and throws it away on the ground. The coat takes off down the street, clawing and biting at people it passes before disappearing around the corner.

* * *

**WASHINGTON SQUARE PARK**  
Cars stop dead in the streets and their occupants scramble out of them, joining in with the crowd of people running for their lives. In the center of all the chaos is the Washington Arch inside the park. A large demon ghost slips through it, looking at the crowd of people running from it with its beady red eyes. It holds up its clawed hands and lets out a mighty roar, further inspiring the panic already in progress.

* * *

**THE 11th PRECINCT**  
The precinct is busier than usual this particular evening. For almost an hour, the phones have been ringing off the hook. Panicked people from all over the city have been calling in reporting one strange thing after another, keeping officers at their phones while others scurry about with reports and files, trying to deal with every problem.

"Was it a big dinosaur or a little dinosaur?" a detective sarcastically asks the caller on the phone. "Oh, it was just the skeleton…so which way was it headed?"

"Wait a second, a what was chasing you?" another befuddled detective asks. "The park BENCH was chasing you? Oh, I see!"

"Wait a second," a sergeant says. He stands up from his desk, hand cupped over the receiver as he turns towards his commanding officer conferring with a detective near his area. "Lieutenant, I think you better talk to this guy."

"I'm busy here!"

"It's some dock supervisor down at pier 54."

"What's the problem?"

"He says the Titanic just arrived."

* * *

**PIER 54** From inside their office, two Port Authority workers stare out of the window in disbelief, mouths dropped open. Docked before them are the translucent remains of the R.M.S. Titanic. Several large holes dot the starboard side of the hull while a large gap is evident in the middle of the ship. The ship is covered in rust and seaweed showing just how long its been under the water. Marching down the ramp leading from the main deck, ghosts wearing period clothing exit the ship and make their way into the city along the pier. The workers exchange a glance and one of them shrugs.

"Well, better late than never."

* * *

The hauntings continue on into the night all over the city, leaving no one with a moment's peace.

The next morning, New Year's Eve. The mayor's cabinet has gathered in the City Hall meeting room to discuss the problem raging in the streets since the night before.

"The battery's swamped! We've had more than 3,000 calls since midnight last night!" the fire chief tells one of the mayor's aides as he looks on to a map of the city with various disturbances marked off.

The police chief paces the length of the carpeted room, talking to another aide who carries a file folder with her. "I've got every man in uniform on the street, and I'm STILL shorthanded! I've got meter maids chasing ghosts all over midtown!" he says before they take their seats at the long conference table. Hardemeyer sits across from them, reviewing notes and reports and fearing the rest of his hair is about to fall out. Another aide comes up from behind him puts a photograph down in front of him. Hardemeyer picks it up and looks at it.

"There's this shell thing over the Manhattan Museum of Art, we can't make a dent!" Hardemeyer sighs, flippantly handing the picture back to him.

"Did you try dynamite?"

"We tried everything." Suddenly, one of the conference room doors open and a disheveled Lenny fights his way inside through a crowd of reporters, flashes going off every second. The officer on guard outside shuts the door after him as Lenny looks around the room, hoping for someone to have some form of answers for him.

"What the hell's going on! It's pandemonium out there!" Hardemeyer stands up next to the mayor.

"Y-yes, I know sir…we're working on it."

"Great," Lenny says, turning towards the long map of New York behind them, "while you're working on it, I'm being known as the mayor who let New York get sucked down into the 10th level of hell!" he says, slapping the map out of frustration. He places a hand in his pocket and runs the other through what remains of his hair, trying to fight back the stress and think of the best way to deal with the problem and all its ramifications. "Alright, we got no choice. Call the Ghostbusters."

"Wait!" Hardemeyer says, a bit of panic jumping into his chest. "I'm sure there must be some other way…" he suggest with a nervous smile.

"Jack, I spent an hour last night in my bedroom talking to Fiorella LaGuardia and he's been dead for over 40 years. Now, where are the Ghostbusters?" Lenny asks as he steps in front of his chair, looking at some papers put in front of him. Hardemeyer gulps, knowing its time to come clean.

"Uh, they're not available…" Lenny drops his papers and slowly turns towards him, a puzzled and irritated look on his face.

"What do you mean they're not available?"

"Um, well, I had them committed to the psychiatric ward at Parkview Hospital."

"You what?" Lenny's nostrils begin to flare, and two of his aides in the nearby corner slowly begin to get up and move towards the other side of the room. Damage control, Jack! Hardemeyer tells himself.

"They were threatening to go to the press! I was protecting your interests!"

"Oh yeah!" Lenny demands. He chases Hardemeyer around the chair and begins to force him towards the doors. "Well, you can stop protecting my interests! You're FIRED!" He gives him a final shove, causing him to bump into the doors.

"But…the election…" Hardemeyer starts.

"Harry, remove this man from the building!" Lenny barks. One of the aides at the table quickly gets up and starts to usher Hardemeyer out the door. "And get me the Ghostbusters!" Lenny says to another aide across the room.

"Mr. Mayor! Mr. Mayor!" another aide calls from the window. Lenny looks over at him. "Come take a look at this!" Lenny quickly moves to the window where he stands, everyone else in the room following along. The room becomes absolutely silent when they see it.

Outside, strange clouds begin to swirl and gather around the sun over the New York skyline, appearing from out of nowhere. They grow in number and intensity as the city begins to grow darker and darker. "Wow…you ever see anything like that?" the aide asks. They swirl and dance in the sky, flowing like a river as they extend out over the city as if to cover it in a blanket. Lenny grits his teeth as he watches.

"Somebody get me the Ghostbusters!" he growls.

* * *

The doors at Parkview burst open as Louis leads the Ghostbusters down the hallway towards the parking area where Ecto-1 waits, suiting up as they go.

"…and then he put the baby in a carriage and levitated away!" Louis finishes telling them.

"What did Dana do, where'd she go?" Peter asks, zipping up his suit.

"I dunno, she said she was going to the museum to get the baby back! And then there was an eclipse and the whole town went dark and everything's nuts!"

"It all fits!" Ray exclaims. "The painting only serves as the housing for Vigo's power while the slime is his conduit. He wants in on the 21st Century, he needs a human body to inhabit. Little Oscar must be it!"

"And I bet we're the only ones who can stop him," Winston says.

"You bet we are!"

* * *

Ecto-1 pulls up through the crowd of spectators and emergency vehicles in front of the museum, coming to a stop. The Ghostbusters and Louis emerge and look in awe at the pulsating shell where the museum once was.

"It looks like a giant Jell-o mold," Ray states.

"I hate Jell-o," Winston mentions.

"Aw, c'mon…there's always room for Jell-o," Peter tells him.

* * *

Inside the museum, Dana paces back in forth in the hallway as she has been since being trapped inside the night before. Janosz paces along with her on the other side of the gates. She tries to think of how to get inside and save her baby, but with the supernatural forces holding the gates locked, there's very little she could do.

"Soon it vill be midnight and the world vill be mine and Vigo's!" Janosz says, excitedly. His smile fades a bit when he thinks about it more. "Vell, mainly Vigo's…Oh, Dana…you have this terrific opportunity to make the best of this relationship!"

"We don't have a relationship," Dana informs him. Janosz drops to his knees, clinging to one of the gates as he looks at her through them,

"I know! Marry me, Dana! Together, we vill raise Vigo as our son!" Dana rolls her eyes and looks across the room at the painting. Janosz quickly stands up and looks back, then turns back to her. "And let me tell you something here; there are many perks to being the mother of a living god! I'm sure we could get a magnificent apartment, a car, perhaps free parking." Janosz takes a hold of one of the gates and slowly opens it, smiling at Dana.

"Many marriages begin with a certain amount of distance. Do you think that, perhaps over time, we could learn to…love each other?" Dana resists the urge to tell him off when she realizes he's inviting her back in. Perhaps she could use his insane lust as an advantage to get close enough to Oscar to attempt to save him again. She looks at him and smiles warmly.

"Yes, I'm sure we could learn." She moves past him through the gate and into the room, hoping that something will happen soon to save them.

* * *

Winston clips his proton pack's belt around his waist as he nods to the others, adjusting their packs. They exchange a glance then begin to approach the museum.

"Can I help?" Louis asks.

"Just keep the car company," Peter says back, "this won't take long." Stopping a few feet from the steps, Ray looks at the guys, then back at their objective.

"Pull 'em," he says. They reach up and remove their positron rifles from the packs. They flip on the power, letting their packs hum to life.

"Full neutronas," Egon says. They make the necessary adjustments, and then take aim.

"Let's cook!" Ray says. They pull their triggers and the proton streams come flying out, hitting the slime wall at full power. After about a minute, they see their streams have absolutely no effect on the pulsating mass before them. "Save 'em," Ray says, killing his stream. The others do the same, prompting boos to rise up from the crowd behind them.

"That slime wall is pulsating with evil," Egon declares, "it would take a tremendous amount of positive energy to crack that shell and I sincerely doubt there's enough goodwill left in this town to do it." Ray leans down against Ecto-1, shaking his head.

"Why don't we just say supportive and nurturing things to it?" Peter suggests.

"I just can't believe things have gotten so bad lately that there's no way back!" Ray says, standing back up. "I mean, sure it's crowded, it's noisy, it's polluted, and there are people all around who'd just as soon step on your face as look at ya, but there's gotta be a few sparks of sweet humanity left in this burned-out burg, we just have to mobilize it!" Lenny pushes his way through the crowd and comes up to them.

"Oh great…speaking of sweet humanity…" Peter mutters.

"What the hell is going on here?" he demands. "What is that thing? Why aren't you doing anything about it!"

"Well, Mr. Mayor, it's like this: there's a 16th Century Moldavian tyrant loose inside that museum with people trapped with him, and that thing is a protective barrier composed of hardened slime pulsating with enough negative energy to make our beams useless," Ray says.

"There are people in there? Oh this is fantastic," Lenny says, throwing up his arms. He can feel his blood pressure rising, just picturing the headlines.

"You got it. And if we can't find a way in there before midnight tonight, you will be known as the mayor who let New York get sucked down into the tenth level of hell!" Peter looks down while thinking. He looks back up and a glint from a light bar catches his eye. He looks towards the PA speaker situated on Ecto-1's roof. He raises an eyebrow as he turns his attention towards one of the nearby fire trucks. He turns and looks back at the museum.

"Hey, Ray…didn't you used to want to be a fireman?"


	9. IT'S SLIME TIME!

Winston steps backwards, spooling out wire as he goes with Louis helping to ensure it comes off correctly. Set up all around the front of the museum are speakers of various shapes, sizes and amps. Wires run from them to a couple of the police cars parked nearby, and then to Ecto-1's radio and PA system. Peter plugs in a microphone into a unit on the dashboard and tests it out. Meanwhile, Ray and Egon work with a couple of firemen directly in front of the museum, making modifications to one of the fire engines. 

"Alright, the main tank is modified…pressure shouldn't be a problem," Ray says as he wipes some grease off his hands and slides out from under the engine. 

"Tank's almost full," Egon states as he reads the meter on the side of the engine. He nods to the firemen pouring the contents of a drum into the tank feed. Winston hooks up the last of the cables to a generator provided by the city. Minutes later, he and Ray put on packs made up of three cylinders with a hose running to one that hangs from their shoulders by a strap. Egon and Peter throw on their proton packs, and join them by the generator. 

"Audio set, electric set," Ray says, flipping two switches on a box on top of the generator. 

"Slime blower, primed and set," Winston says, adjusting the chest strap on his pack. 

"OOooooh, good slime, good slime! Winston, is our slime in a good mood tonight?" Peter asks, caressing the large central tank. 

"I sure hope so. This place is a lot bigger than a toaster." 

"It's getting close to midnight, let's go, Venkman," Egon says. Peter nods and pulls the microphone out of his belt, switching it on. He steps up on the running board of the fire engine, looking out at the crowd watching them intently. 

"Guys, I can help you!" Louis says, practically jumping in Ray's face. 

"Louis, I don't think this is really the time…" Ray starts. 

"Please! I wanna be there with you guys!" Louis pleads. Winston places a hand on his shoulder. 

"Louis, it's too dangerous, buddy. Sit this one out and we'll start you off light when this is all over, okay?" Louis slumps and nods reluctantly. They all turn to look at Peter on the engine. 

"Hello, New York! Coming at you live from the beautiful island of Manhattan is the first ever Ghostbusters New Year's Eve bash! We're gonna squeeze some New Year's juice outta ya, big apple!" Peter nods to Ray. Ray pulls out a walkman hooked up to everything and presses play. "Higher and Higher" begins to play, pumping through every speaker and available PA system around the area at full volume. Two firemen grab the hose on the engine, holding up towards the museum and waiting for their cue. 

Sparks of purple energy begin to dance over the shell as the upbeat music begins to raise the spirits of the crowd of people watching. Peter starts singing into the microphone with the song, trying to encourage the others to sing with him. Suddenly, the front of the engine bounces up and down, surprising everyone and almost throwing Peter off. "Yow! I think it's kicking in!" 

"Alright, let's do it!" Ray shouts. The firemen brace themselves as the lead fireman pulls the lever on the end of the hose. Positively charged mood slime begins to blast out of the end and onto the shell. The positively charged slime splatters messily all over the solid slime, sending more purple waves of energy dancing over it. 

"Ray, it's working!" Egon exclaims. The Ghostbusters look as they see the slime wall starts to pull away from the area being bombarded. 

"It is?" Ray asks, giving Peter a look. 

"Hey, it's slime time!" Peter says with a smirk. 

"Let's get ready," Ray says as they position themselves at the bottom of the stairs. They wait until the slime wall pulls away a bit more. 

"Guys, I can go in with you!" Louis pleads with them by the stairs. "Let me just grab a pack…" 

"Louis, it's too dangerous in there. We'll talk about it later." Ray motions to the firemen and they cut the slime. The Ghostbusters run up the stairs and past the wall just as it begins to close up again behind them. Louis gets a determined look on his face, grits his teeth, and charges at the museum. 

"Hey, stop!" a fireman calls. Too late. Louis dives through the hole just before it reseals behind him and lands on the stairs in a puddle of mood slime. Winston turns back as he hears his grunt when he lands hard. 

"Louis!" 

"Heh…hi."

* * *

Janosz slips Dana's cardboard New Years hat on her head before placing his own on. He smiles as he looks at his watch, then back up at her. 

"Four minutes to go, and then it's party time!" They turn towards the painting, and Dana's eyes grow wide as a ray of energy flows from Vigo's face to Oscar's. Dana steps forward to try and pull Oscar away, but Janosz grabs her, holding her incredibly tight with just one hand. Vigo's face begins to appear over Oscar's with a victorious smile. "It's happening. It's really happening!" he says, excited. He turns when he hears a humming coming from behind the room's gates. "Eh?" 

Proton streams blasts two of the gates off their hinges, allowing the Ghostbusters to enter. Dana takes advantage of the distraction to break free from Janosz's grasp and run over to the pedestal, pulling Oscar off his pillow and running to hide behind one of the room's pillars. Vigo's face fades as he screams out in pain. 

"No! Go away!" Janosz shouts at them. 

"Happy New Year!" Peter says, positron rifle at the ready. 

"Do you know who this is? He's Vigo! You are like the buzzing of flies to him!" Janosz tells them with a confident smile. The guys look around the room confused. Janosz follows their gaze, seeing that the painting is missing its occupant. Confusion quickly crosses his face as he wonders what happened. 

"Oh, Johnny, did you back the wrong horse. Would you hose him, please?" Peter asks. 

"Hose 'im!" Ray agrees. He and Winston hold up their blowers and pull back the trigger levers, sending out waves of slime onto Janosz. He gets covered in the stuff, slipping and sliding back as he tries to get away, but eventually collapses onto the ground. Ray and Winston cut the flow and Janosz lies on the floor in a puddle of slime. 

"One down," Winston says. 

"On the ground," Ray adds. Dana runs over to Peter, kissing him. 

"Oh, am I glad to see you!" 

"Hey, Oscar!" Peter says, taking Oscar into his arms and patting his head. Dana smiles, then turns to Ray, motioning to Janosz. 

"Is he…dead?" 

"Nuh-uh," Ray assures her, "this slime is positively charged. He'll wake up feeling like a million bucks." Suddenly, a wind begins to blow throughout the room. The Ghostbusters look around as Egon's PKE meter begins to beep wildly. He looks down at it, checking the readings. They begin to move around the room, trying to see where the disturbance was coming from. Suddenly, a piece of scaffolding falls to the ground, drawing all their attention towards the back wall as a tube snakes down from the ceiling and wraps around Dana. 

"Dana!" Peter exclaims. He hands Winston Oscar and pulls his rifle off of his belt. He aims it upwards and blasts the hose. It crumples on the ground around her feet, and he quickly gives Oscar back to her. "Take him, go hide! Go!" Dana grabs Oscar close and runs to the side where she ducks behind two overturned tables. The Ghostbusters turn to the center of the room where Vigo suddenly materializes. 

"Uh-oh…" Egon mutters. Vigo approaches them, an unhappy scowl on his face. Louis, who up until this time was peering through the gates from the hallway, pulls back and presses himself up against the wall, breathing heavily, terrified. 

"Hold it right there, dead head!" Ray says, holding up his slime blower at the ready. Vigo turns to him with a look that could kill. "If you want a baby, go knock up some willing hellhound! Otherwise, I'm giving you to the count of three to get back in that painting where you belong! One!" 

"Two," Peter says, flipping his positron rifle to full power and moving over to the side between Vigo and Dana's hiding place. 

"Three!" Ray shouts. With that, Peter and Egon fire their proton streams at Vigo. Vigo writhes around in pain where he stands as the beams hit him. "You got him! You got him!" Ray exclaims. That statement is quickly disproved when Vigo stands up, swinging out his arms and sending the Ghostbusters flying back with a burst of purple energy. They land on the floor in painful heaps, the energy around them dissipating quickly. 

"That was really stupid…" Winston mutters. The Ghostbusters try to get up, but find they have some difficulty. Vigo shrugs off the petty annoyance, and turns towards Dana's hiding place. Outside in the hall, Louis slowly and carefully moves his head around the end of the wall, peering back into the room. 

"Oh, no! Come on guys, get up!" he whispers to himself. 

"Ray! Can you move?" Egon asks. 

"No…are you okay?" Ray asks back. 

"No. Venkman, how are you?" 

"I'm fine," Peter lies as he struggles to make his limbs work. Vigo looks at the desks in his way, and with a simple parting gesture they slide across the floor to expose Dana and Oscar. Dana stands up and slowly moves away, clutching Oscar tightly to her. Vigo raises his hand closed and upside-down. He quickly opens his fingers, sending Dana flying back into the wall with Oscar levitating in mid-air. He then begins to signal "come here" with his hand and Oscar floats over to him. Vigo takes him in his hands and holds him out, smiling as he turns back towards the center of the room. 

"No!" Dana shouts, struggling to move but finds herself stuck to the wall via and invisible force. "Please, do something!" she yells at the Ghostbusters. 

Out in the hallway, Louis breathes heavily. I have to help, he thinks, But how? He looks down at his slime covered clothing. He reaches up and opens his shirt a bit, exposing his make-shift Ghostbusters uniform underneath. He looks up, the determined look returning to his face. 

With all his might, Peter hops off his side, moving forward a bit. He puts all his energy into one last hop, looking up at Vigo. "Not so fast, Vigo! Hey! You! Yeah, the bimbo with the baby!" That gets Vigo's attention as he looks down at him, annoyed. "Anybody tell you the big shoulder look is out? Y'know, I have met some dumb blondes in my time, but you take the taco, pal." The guys all struggle to crane their necks, looking at Peter curiously. "Only a Carpathian would come back NOW and choose New York! Tasty pick, BONE HEAD!" Dana looks at him from across the room, wondering if he flipped his lid. "If you had brain one in that HUGE melon on top of your neck, you'd be living the sweet life in southern California's beautiful San Fernando Valley!" 

Vigo opens his mouth and a beam of energy flies out, dancing over their bodies. They convulse and spasm as pain rips through their every nerve ending, causing them to scream out in anguish. 

"**Now we become one!**" Vigo says in a demonic voice as he holds Oscar up above him. Oscar cries out in fear, but Vigo just smiles victoriously. 

It's now or never, Louis decides. He takes a deep breath, turns, and runs into the room through the blown gate. He knows from before the proton packs have no effect on Vigo, so he move directly for where Winston lies. Vigo spots him just a little too late as Louis grabs Winston's slime blower, holds it up, and pulls back the lever. The slime spews out from the end and begins to land all over Vigo. Vigo staggers back, the positively charged slime reacting with the negative slime that gives him his powers. 

"He's weakening!" Egon exclaims, "The slime's neutralizing his powers!" 

"I can move!" Ray states as the Ghostbusters begin to scramble to their feet. Vigo lets out a mighty roar as he releases his grasp on Oscar, letting him fall straight to the ground. Peter dives frantically and catches the kid just before he hits. Vigo rears his head up, back inside the painting with the slime evaporating off of him. The background has turned into a purple and pink swirling mess of spectral energy while his face begins to twist and shift. 

"He's back in the painting!" Egon exclaims. Dana runs over to Peter, hysterical. He hands Oscar over to her, ushering her away. 

"Go find a shady spot," he tells her. She nods, clutching Oscar tight and heads out of the room into the hall. Winston pries his slime blower out of Louis' hands as he stays in his kneeling position on the floor, paralyzed with fear. 

"Oh my God…what did I just do? I must be crazy!" he stammers. Peter jumps over to him and quickly pulls him up by the collar. 

"Louis…Louis!" He slaps Louis' face, trying to get him back to reality and get him to quit muttering. "Go and watch Dana. You got that? Protect Dana." 

"R-Right!" he says, starting to come back to his senses. Peter pushes him towards the gates. 

Vigo's head stops shifting and he looks out at the Ghostbusters, letting out an inhuman roar as they gaze upon his change. His forehead is more sloped and his skin has more texture than the average humans'. Small horns protrude from the top of his head while his eyes are solemn black with bloodshot pupils. 

"Woah, I thought he was ugly before…" Winston mutters. Ray looks up at Vigo and their eyes lock. Vigo sends out his silent commands into Ray's head as Ray's mouth drops open, the dumb look from the other day returning to his face. 

"Viggy, Viggy, Viggy! You have been a bad little monkey!" Peter says, turning back to the room and grabbing his gun. Ray steps up to the painting, dumbly looking into it. 

"Uh, Ray, could you step aside please we'd like to shoot the monster?" Egon asks. 

"Ray." 

"Ray!" 

"RAY!" Ray turns around, except he's no longer Ray Stantz; instead, the Ghostbusters gasp as they're greeted by the sight of Vigo's demonic head on Ray's body, his eyes full of hate as he looks at them. 

"**Now I, Ray and Vigo, and shall rule the Earth! Be gone, you pitiful half-men!**" 

"Now!" Peter shouts. He and Egon open fire, but Vigo leaps into the painting and disappears within, letting the streams hit the canvas harmlessly. Peter looks over at Egon, asking him what they should do now with his expression. Egon looks towards the painting and furrows his brow. He takes off towards it and leaps, disappearing within. Peter and Winston exchange a glance, then Peter takes off towards the painting and leaps inside. Winston holds back a bit, shaking his head. 

"Why can't this ever be easy?" He runs and leaps. When he lands he finds himself standing on nothing. All around him, the world moves and swirls making very little sense. There is no up or down. There are no boundaries. There just…is. He ducks as a proton stream flies over his head. "Hey!" He looks up to see Peter and Egon in front of him, blasting spooks away as they fly out from the chaos. The only stable place within the entire realm is the rectangular doorway that clearly shows the restoration room through it. Winston can see Dana and Louis peering into the room at the painting. 

"Winston, get Vigo!" Egon says as he fires. Winton looks over to see Vigo standing before them, his arms raised as the spirits fly out from around him. The Ghostbusters uniform he wears begins to fade, being slowly replaced by Vigo's armor. "We have to separate him from Ray before the transformation becomes permanent!" With that, Winston scrambles to his feet and charges forward towards Vigo. Vigo raises his arms and commands spirits to fly at Winston, but Winston easily maneuvers and avoids each one that comes at him. He ducks the last one and stops mere feet from Vigo. Vigo growls as he grabs for the slime blower he still wears. 

"Be gone!" Vigo commands, pulling the lever back on the blower; but instead of slime, a wave of flame flies out of it. Winston's eyes open wide as he dives out of the way. 

"EGON! He's packing heat! Literally!" Winston scrambles as Vigo turns back towards him, still firing flames. Winston curses to himself as his movements are made clumsy not only by the twisted reality he's now in but the bulky slime pack he wears. 

"Winston! Quickly!" Egon shouts. Winston curses as he grabs his slime blower. 

"Sorry, buddy, but this is for your own good!" Winston pulls back the lever on his slime blower and the mood slime begins to spit out. Vigo stumbles as his body is covered by the goop. Suddenly, Ray flies forward as Vigo stumbles back. Winston moves close to Ray and crouches down. He cuts his slime and goes to work unhooking Ray from his slime blower. When finished, he grabs Ray under his arms and drags him back towards the others. "Got him!" he declares. 

"Get him out of here! We'll handle Vigo!" Peter shouts. Winston pulls Ray back towards the doorway through the painting. Egon and Peter turn towards Vigo after they pass through, and see the magician stand up, commanding the mood slime that covers him to disappear. He begins to approach menacingly and they open fire. Unfortunately, the beams have the exact same effect as before. "Okay, braniac…now what? Our streams don't exactly work on him!" 

"We cross the streams," Egon says frankly. 

"What! Egon, you love living dangerously, don't you?" 

"Just do it!" Peter closes his eyes as he moves his rifle closer to Egon's, all but touching the tips of them. Their streams twist around each other and merge into one large wavy stream of proton energy. Vigo rears back, roaring, as cracks begin to form on his person. Streams of light file through the cracks as more begin to form. "Peter?" 

"Yes, Egon?" 

"RUN!" They stop blasting and turn back towards the painting. Vigo lets out one final roar before he explodes, sending a fireball streaming out at them. Egon and Peter dive out of the painting and hit the restoration room floor just as the fireball passes over them. 

Outside, the slime shell around the museum cracks up and flies upward into the air, disappearing in the night sky. The crowd cheers while Lenny breathes a sigh of relief. 

Inside the Restoration Room, Winston and Egon help up a slime-drenched Ray as he comes to. 

"What the hell happened?" Winston asks. 

"I figured the protonic reversal of crossing the streams would cause a destabilization of Vigo's powers and sub pocket dimension, collapsing it in and around himself and forcing his essence to theoretically cross over to wherever it is spirits go when they're not here or in our Containment Unit." Winston blinks at Egon. 

"Sorry I asked." He grabs a hold of Ray as he slips a little on the slime puddle formed from when he was lying on it, but he regains his balance and seems alright. "How you feeling?" Winston asks. Ray puts on a dumb smile. 

"Groovy." 

Peter and Dana approach each other. She smiles at him and he returns it. 

"Are you okay?" he asks. 

"Yeah," she says. He looks down at Oscar in her arms, then smiles at Dana. He reaches up and gently pushes Oscar aside. 

"Spread out, Shorty," and with that, he moves in and they kiss. It's quickly interrupted when Louis jumps on them, giving them both a big hug. 

"This was so great! This was the best time of life!" 

"I bet," Peter says, giving Dana a smile. She smiles back at him. 

"Thank you, Louis. Nice outfit, by the way," she says. 

"Thanks! So, am I a Ghostbuster now?" Louis asks, looking up at Peter. 

"Um, we'll talk." 

"I love you guys!" Ray says, Egon and Winston exchanging a glance. "I love all you guys!" He places his hands on their shoulders, leaving a slimy spot on them. "And I love Venkman…wow, real friendship!" 

"Yeah, that's nice, Ray," Winston says, turning him around and pushing him to start walking. "We gotta live with this?" he whispers to Egon. 

"Hey, that guy's awake!" Louis shouts, pointing over to Janosz as he stirs a bit. 

On the other side of the Restoration Room, Janosz begins to awaken in his puddle of slime, singing a strange song. Egon and Ray step over him and reach down to pick him up. Janosz stands wobbly, but quickly gets his bearings. He looks down at his clothes, clinging to his body due to the wet slime. 

"Ugh, why am I dripping with goo?" he asks. 

"You had a violent prolonged transformative episode," Egon tell him. 

"Huh?" 

"You were possessed," Ray clarifies. "Sorry we hadda hose ya there, but you were kinda outta control." He places a hand on his shoulder, and smiles warmly at him. "Hey, man, let me tell you something…I love you." 

"You do?" Ray nods. "Well, I love you too!" They embrace in a tight hug. Winston turns away before he loses his lunch and begins to walk across the Restoration Room. He stops when he takes notice of the painting. He tilts his head and laughs. 

"Hey, guys…you wanna take a look at this?" Egon, Ray, Peter and Dana and Louis all walk over to where Winston stands, following his gaze. 

"Wow," Ray says. 

"Early Renaissance, I think. Rafael or Pierre Della Francesco," Egon states. 

"No, I believe it was one of the Fettuccini's…" Peter corrects. Before them stands the painting behind the smoldering cradle where Vigo tried to possess Oscar. Instead of the eerie landscape and the image of a tyrant, it's now a much cooler piece in a forest setting. Standing up draped in a golden robe is Egon without his glasses, his arms crossed with a book pressed against the exposed part of his chest. Next to him stands Ray draped in a brown robe, holding up an olive branch. In front of them crouches Winston in a red robe holding up a majestic wooden harp, while Peter sits next to him in a green robe holding down a sword while pointing up off to the side with his eyes rolled up. In the middle of them all floats little baby Oscar on a cloud. 

"I wonder if they'll let us take it home," Louis muses.

* * *

The Ghostbusters walk down the steps of the museum, their arms held up in victory as the crowd of onlookers cheer and chant their names. The day has been won, and the city that never sleeps is safe to sleep once more…

* * *

Below First Avenue, the Van Horne station of the Pneumatic Transit System sits quietly below the bustling of the city above. Darkness has enveloped this area once again without the river of slime to provide illumination. However, down in the well where the tracks lay, something begins to stir within a crack in the foundation. Slowly, the slime pushes its way up through it, bubbling as it goes and begins to gather into a puddle around the opening. 

**The end.**

**For now.**

* * *

Visit the official website at http:hometown. 

Written by

Chris Buchner

Based on the screenplay written by

Dan Aykroyd & Harold Ramis

Based on characters created by

Dan Aykroyd & Harold Ramis

BILL MURRAY  
DAN AYKROYD  
SIGOURNEY WEAVER  
HAROLD RAMIS  
RICK MORANIS  
ERNIE HUDSON  
ANNIE POTTS  
PETER MacNICOL  
KURT FULLER  
DAVID MARGULIES  
HARRIS YULIN  
JANET MARGOLIN  
WILL DEUTSCHENDORF  
HANK DEUTSCHENDORF  
And  
SLIMER

Executive Producers  
Bernie Brillstein  
Joe Medjuck  
Michael C. Gross

Director of Photography  
Michael Chapman

Production Designer  
Bo Welch

Edited by  
Chris Buchner  
Mario Franzetti

Associate Producers  
Sheldon Kahn  
Gordon Webb

Visual Effects Supervisor  
Dennis Muren, A.S.C.

Costumes Designed by  
Gloria Gresham

Music by  
Randy Edelman

Casting by  
Michael Chinich

Cast  
Dr. Peter Venkman...BILL MURRAY  
Dr. Raymond Stantz...DAN AYKROYD  
Dana Barrett...SIGOURNEY WEAVER  
Dr. Egon Spengler...HAROLD RAMIS  
Louis Tully...RICK MORANIS  
Winston Zeddemore...ERNIE HUDSON  
Janine Melnitz...ANNIE POTTS  
Janosz Poha...PETER MacNICOL  
The Judge...HARRIS YULIN  
The Mayor of NY...DAVID MARGUILIES  
Hardemeyer...KURT FULLER  
The Prosecutor...JANET MARGOLIN  
Vigo...WILHEM von HOMBURG  
Baby Oscar...WILLIAM T. DEUTSCHENDORF  
...HENRY J. DEUTSCHENDORF, II  
Frank the Doorman...MICHAEL P. MORAN  
Meter Maid...OLIVIA WARD  
Man with a Ticket...MORDECAI LAWNER  
Young Woman on Crutches...SUSAN BOEHM  
First Cop...DAVE FLOREK  
Con Ed Supervisor...RICHARD FORONJY  
Bailiff...GEORGE WILBUR  
Stenographer...SHARON KRAMER  
Mayor's Doorman...BOBBY BARESFORD BROWN  
Maitre'd...CHRISTOPHER NEAME  
Slimed Restaurant Patron...JUDY OVITZ  
Restaurant Cop #1...TOM DUGAN  
Restaurant Cop #2...ANGELO Di MASCIO  
Store Manager...ROBERT ALAN BEUTH  
Police Sergeant...RALPH MONACO  
Police Lieutenant...RON CUMMINS  
Dock Supervisor...CHEECH MARIN  
Maria, Dana's Maid...YVETTE CRUISE  
Detective #1...JOHN HAMMIL  
Detective #2...RAY GLANZMANN  
Detective #3...ALEX ZIMMERMAN  
Psychiatrist...BRIAN DOYLE-MURRAY  
Woman with Fur Coat...LOUISE TROY  
Plaza Hotel Man...DOUGLAS SEALE  
Public Works Official...BEN STEIN  
Fire Commissioner...ERIK HOLLAND  
Police Commissioner...PHILLIP BAKER HALL  
Walter Peck...WILLIAM ATHERTON  
Milton Angland...KEVIN DUNN  
Elaine...CHLOE WEBB  
Fireman #1...MARIO FRANZETTI  
Fireman #2...KENT HOWARDS  


GHOSTBUSTERS 2.5 TM & © 2004 ATOMIC COMICS GROUP. GHOSTBUSTERS 2 AND ALL RELATED CHARACTERS TM & © COLUMBIA PICTURES, INC. 


	10. DELETED SCENES

* * *

**ALTERNATE BEGINNING**

  
When I began writing the story, I hadn't yet decided what direction I wanted to take it. Did I want it to be as close to the original movie or did I want to change direction? This was part of the first draft where instead of being out of business, the Ghostbusters were put on probationary restriction allowing them to bust ghosts but without their proton packs. This is what eventually led to the probationary damage restriction used in the final version.

* * *

REEEEEERRREEEEEEERRREEEEEEERRRR 

This has become a familiar sound to the inhabitants of New York over the last five years. They know when they hear that sound, they'll soon be seeing the old red and white 1959 Cadillac roaring by on the street. The old girl has seen better days, however, as money had started becoming sparse. Sometimes you can be too good at something, as the Ghostbusters have learned over a recent decline of business. 

Add to the fact after multiple times causing damage to the city, the city government finally stepped in and removed their rights to use their proton packs on a bust, adding to the already dwindling calls. But still, they press on. 

Ecto-1 pulls up outside of a brownstone, blowing a large amount of black smoke out of the tailpipe as the engine is cut off. Ray and Winston emerge from the car in uniform and head towards the back. Ray opens the door, exposing the rack of proton packs amidst all the car's equipment in the back. He reaches past them all for a duffle bag and his pair of ecto-goggles. Winston reaches in the other side for a plastic riot shield and the PKE meter. Wiston starts back to the sidewalk when he notices Ray staring at the packs. Winston pulls Ray back, shutting the door. 

"Forget it, man." Ray sighs and nods, following Winston into the house. 

They slowly enter the nicely furnished living room. Winston kills the lights as Ray places the goggles over his eyes. He looks around the room, picking up traces of ectoplasmic residue. 

"Definitely something here. How's the PKE?" Winston holds up the meter. 

"Only residuals." Ray pushes the goggles back up. 

"It's still here, I'm sure of it." He sets the bag down and opens it up. He hands Winston a trap, which he goes to set up in the middle of the room. He then pulls out an orange poncho and pulls it on. Finally, he pulls out the last of the bag's contents; a gun with a large magnet on the end. Ray holds it up and turns it on, making the familiar proton gun hum. 

"Ready," Winston says, standing up from the trap. 

"Sigh…here we go." Ray pulls the goggles back down and heads off into the kitchen. Soon, inhuman sounds emerge from the kitchen. Winston grabs his shield as Ray shouts out, followed by sounds of falling metal objects. A blue ghost flies into the living room, forcing Winston to duck under it. Ray runs out of the kitchen, gun ready. The ghost turns and tries to double back, but Ray stays on him. "Z, now!" 

Winston steps on the pedal to the trap, opening it and emitting its column of light as Ray pulls the trigger. Winston holds up his shield as the entire area in front of Ray is hit with a magnetic burst. Anything metallic flies back quickly, pelting both Ray and Winston's shield. The ghost is slowly pulled out of the wall against its will, struggling to fight against the current. But soon, the force proves to be too much and it flies back through Ray and into the trap. Winston shuts it and Ray kills the gun. 

Ray and Winston leave the house, carrying their gear and a slimed poncho with them. Winston shakes his head. 

"That's it Ray…I've had it with being pelted by everything in the house!" 

"I know, Z, but we can't quit now. The holidays are coming up…it's our best season." Ray looks up to see a small group of young kids standing next to Ecto-1, looking at her. 

"Hey, is this your car?" one of them asks. Ray stops and smiles as Winston proceeds to the back door. 

"Yes it is." 

"Woah, cool! Who are you guys?" 

"We're the Ghostbusters." One of the kids, the biggest and obviously oldest of the group, scoffs when he hears the name. 

"My dad says you're full of crap," he says. Ray's smile quickly fades. 

"Well, some people just have trouble believing in the paranormal." 

"No, he says you're full of crap, that's why you're not famous anymore. C'mon, let's go." The younger kids wave to Ray as they follow the older one down the street. Ray shakes his head as Winston takes the bag from his hand. 

"Ungreatul yuppie larva…after all we did for this city…" Ray grumbles. Winston chuckles in response. 

"Yeah, conjured up a 100 foot marshmallow man, unleashed the Four Horsemen on the world, blew up part of Central Park taking out a supernatural TV Station, and ended up getting sued by every city, county and state agency in New York!" 

"Yeah, but what a ride," Ray says with a cheery smile as he shuts the door. 

Peter emerges from a McDonald's on Broadway, holding the door open for Louis carrying a cardboard tray full of bags of food. As they start walking, Peter tries to tune out Louis' incessant banter. 

"…So I filed the W2 forms, but the W4 forms needed a revision, so you know what I did? I checked over section A and found out I could substitute section C with a special clause from section E paragraph 4. And then, you know what I did? I reanalyzed the book and redid the figures in order to determine…" 

"Louis…" 

"Yes, Peter?" 

"English, please." 

"Uhhh…if you don't get some real business soon, you'll all be bankrupt." Peter shakes his head, but stops short when he notices a small group of reports by the entrance to Federal Plaza across the street. Louis keeps going, unable to see until he trips over a fire hydrant. Meanwhile, Peter smirks as his hunch plays out; emerging from the building was their old "friend" Mayor Lenny and two suits. The reporters start to hound them as they make their way towards a limo parked by the curb. Two secruity guards hold the reporters back as the Mayor and his enterage hit the sidewalk where Peter waits near the limo. 

"Lenny! It's me, Pete Venkman!" The Mayor gives him a dirty look as one of the suits steps out and cuts Peter off, placing a heavy hand on his chest. 

"I'm Jack Hardemeyer, the Mayor's assistant, may I help you?" 

"Yeah, you can start by getting your hand off me. I'm an old friend of the Mayor's, just wanted to say hello and give him a kiss." 

"I know who you are, Dr. Venkman. Catch any ghosts lately?" Hardemeyer asks sarcastically. Peter laughs, resisting every impulse to clock the guy. Instead, he keeps smiling and musters up a pleasant tone. 

"Well, ya see, that's what I wanted to talk to his highness about. See, we did a couple jobs for the city and got stiffed on the bill by some beurocratic bookworm like yourself." This sets Hardemeyer off, and he leans in close to make his point. 

"Listen, you stay away from the Mayor. He plans on running for Governor next fall and he doesn't need two-bit frauds and publicity hounds like you or your friends around." He turns and quickly gets into the limo. 

"Hey, I'm a voter! Aren't you supposed to lie to me and kiss my ass?" Peter shouts after the limo as it pulls away quickly. "Asshole."

* * *

**ALTERNATE COURT ROOM SCENE**

  
The court scene basically plays out the same way, but some bits of dialogue were changed to reflect the alternate beginning's premise. It was always my intention to give Winston more to do.

* * *

The Prosecutor runs her hand over the table in front of the defendant's table. On it sits the Ghostbusters' proton packs, two traps, the PKE and Giga Meters, and the rod used to gather the slime sample now in a glass jar. 

"Mr. Fianella, please look at Exhibits A through G on the table here. Do you recognize this equipment?" On the witness stand, the man from Con Ed looks over at the table. 

"Yeah, that's the stuff the cops took from their truck." 

"And, do you know what this equipment is used for?" Fianella shrugs, thinking. 

"I dunno, catching ghosts?" Wexler looks over and flashes him a dirty look. The Prosecutor walks over to her table and picks up two sheets of paper. She turns and brings one to Wexler, motioning for Louis to come for the other one. 

"May I remind the court that the defendants are under a judicial restraining order that specifically forbids them from using this particular equipment or cause any form of damage to public property." Louis takes his copy and returns to his seat. 

"So noted," Wexler says. The Prosecutor returns to the evidence table and picks up the jar. 

"Now, Mr. Fianella, can you identify the substance in the jar marked exhibit G?" She walks over to the stand and hands it too him. He takes it and looks it over, rolling it around in his hands and watching the viscous substance ooze around the jar's smooth surface. 

"Yeah, that's the stuff. Your honor, I've been working underground for Con Ed for over 27 years, and I never saw anything like this in my life. Whatever's down there, they musta put it there," he says, pointing towards the Ghostbusters. 

"No we didn't!" Ray yells out while standing up, obviously not liking the accusation. Wexler bangs his gavel hard. 

"Shut up!" he shouts at him. 

It's Peter's turn on the stand with Louis examining him. Peter looks around the courtroom as he speaks out of the side of his mouth in a whisper, telling Louis what to say which he does word for word. 

"So, you were just trying to help out a friend who was ascared of what was happening to her and when you're scared…what? …There was no evil intended, no malice because you live here and when you live in a place and you love it like you do you don't want nothing bad to happen…what? …Because it'll never happen again it's an isolated incident…it's a one shot deal…" 

"Objection!" the Prosecutor says, finally having enough. "Objection, your honor," she says again, regaining some composure. 

"What!" Louis asks her. 

"He's leading the witness." 

"Sustained!" Wexler says. Louis shakes his head. 

"Gimmie a break, we're both lawyers!" he says to her. 

"Mr. Tully!" Louis turns back to the judge who motions for him to come to the bench. "Do you have any questions for this witness that might have some bearing on this case?" Wexler asks. Louis looks over at Peter. 

"Do I?" 

"No, I think we've helped them out enough," Peter says. Louis turns back to the judge. 

"No, your honor." He begins to walk back to his seat, glaring at the prosecutor and curtly telling her "Your witness." The Prosecutor stands up and casually walks to the front of her table. 

"Dr. Venkman, would you please to the court why it is you and your co-defendants took it upon yourselves to dig a very big hole in the middle of First Avenue?" Peter shrugs. 

"Well, there's so many holes on First Avenue we really didn't think anyone would notice," he says sarcastically. That causes some of the people in the gallery to crack up a bit. Wexler bangs his gavel to quiet them. 

"Keep that up, mister, and I'll find you in contempt!" The venom in his voice causes a bubble to form inside the slime jar. 

"I am truly sorry, your honor," Peter says, trying to hold back more sarcasm. 

"I'll ask you again, Dr. Venkman; why the hole? And remember you ARE under oath, " The Prosecutor says, her patience at end as well. 

"There are things in this world that go way beyond human understanding, things that can't be explained…things that most people don't want to know about. That's where we come in," he says, motioning towards Egon and Ray. Ray and Egon exchanged satisfied glances and nods over that statement. The Prosecutor approaches the stand and places her hands on it. 

"So, what you're trying to say is that the world of the supernatural is your special province?" Peter puts his hand on top of hers, causing her to quickly draw them back in disgust. 

"Kitten, what I'm trying to say is that sometimes shit happens, someone's gotta do something about it, and who're you gonna call?" The gallery bursts out in applause and cheers, and Wexler angrily bangs his gavel. 

"SHUT UP!" 

"Peter Venkman, Raymond Stantz, Egon Spengler…stand up! Get up!" Wexler demands. The three of them exchange disappointed looks as they stand. "You too, Mr. Tully." Louis quickly shoots up. "I find you guilty on all charges. I order you to pay fines in the amount of 25,000 each and I sentence you to eighteen months in the city correctional facility at Ryker's Island!" Amidst his disappointment, Ray notices a stirring within the slime jar as more bubbles form. He pats Egon's arm. 

"Iggy…she's twitching!" he says. Egon and Peter follow his gaze to the table. Wexler bangs his gavel to quiet the disappointed grumblings of the gallery. 

"I'm not finished! On a more personal note, let me go on record as saying that there is no place in decent society for fakes, charlatans and tricksters like you…" 

"Uh, your honor?" Egon tries to interject as the jar begins to bubble more. 

"Shut up! …who prey on the gullibility of innocent people!" 

"Your honor, this is important!" Peter says. 

"You're beneath the contempt of this court!" 

"Yes, your honor…" Ray starts. 

"SHUT UP!" 

"But…" Ray says, making a motion with his hands to the jar as it begins to over flow and spill out onto the table. A wind begins to pick up in the courtroom. 

"And believe me, if my hands were not tied by the unalterable fetters of the law, a law which has become in my view far too permissive and inadequate in it's standards of punishment…" The Ghostbusters slowly back away from their table as the slime begins to spit up little globs into the air, the jar rocking fiercely, threatening to throw itself off the table. 

"…I would invoke the tradition of our illustrious fore bearers, reach back to a sterner, purer justice…" Realizing the judge was far too into listening to his own voice to care, Egon makes a motion that they should duck under the table. They quickly comply, dragging Louis with them. "…and have you burned at the stake!" 

The slime jar bursts and two entities fly up from the spot it once occupied. They hover in the air above the bench and take the form of a skinny transparent skeleton and a fat ghostly blob, both wearing what resembles prison-issued clothing and sitting in electric chairs. Blue electricity courses over their bodies as they convulse and twitch as though they are being electrocuted. 

"Wow!" Ray exclaims from under the table, looking up at them. The gallery members begin to retreat from the courtroom, Winston ushering them out as best he can. 

"Move, move, move!" he shouts. 

"Oh my God, it's the Scoleri Brothers!" Wexler exclaims from his chair, terrified after having recognized them. The Scoleris burst from their chairs and turn towards Wexler, recognizing him too. His eyes grow wide and he scrambles over the bench, quickly leaping off of it as they dive down onto it, causing it to explode. Winston turns towards the sound, only to get caught up in the last of the spectators and pushed out of the door with them. The thin brother flies up and points his hand, firing some energy at the doors. The energy dances on them before they close shut, energy flashing briefly around the door frame. 

"No!" Winston shouts as he lunges for the doors. He grabs hold of the knobs only to get electricity coursing through his body. He's blown back across the hall and into the wall where he crumples to the floor. 

"The Scoleri Brothers!" Wexler exclaims, scrambling under the table with the Ghostbusters. 

"Friends of yours?" Ray asks. 

"I tried 'em for murder! Gave 'em the chair! You gotta do something! Help me!" 

"Why don't you tell them you don't believe in ghosts?" Egon asks. Suddenly, the table lifts up from above them as the two brothers pick it up to expose them. The occupants quickly run behind the glass partition separating the bench area from the side doorway as the Scoleris throw the table into the wrecked bench. 

Wexler tries the door knob, but receives a jolt. He bangs on it, hoping someone outside would open the door. He turns back as the glow from the energy and twisted, inhuman laughter fills the room. Wexler turns frantically to Ray, grabbing his sport coat and shaking him violently. 

"You gotta do something! Help me!" Ray gives him an emotionless look. 

"Don't talk to me, talk to my attorney." 

"That's me!" Louis says, stepping up. "My boys are still under the judishment restrangement order…that blue thing I got from her! They could be exposing themselves!" 

"And you don't want us exposing ourselves!" Peter chimes in. They all perk up as they hear the Prosecutor screaming. They quickly dash to the end of the partition and peer out to see the fat brother carrying her upside down towards the door by her leg. She hits the door, sending it flying open as the ghost rams her into the people outside. 

Winston sees his opportunity and makes a mad dash for the doors as they begin to close. Using his military training, he leaps, expertly lands, and rolls out into the courtroom just as the doors slam shut and reseal themselves. He looks back and lets out a breath of relief, quickly standing up and heading towards the front of the room. 

Behind the partition, Wexler grabs his head knowing for sure he's next. Peter, aware of this fear, smiles smugly. 

"You're next, bubbles." 

"Alright, alright! I rescind the order, case dismissed!" Wexler says, desperately. "Now do something!" 

"All right! We won the case!" Louis cheers as the other three celebrate quickly. Winston appears at the opening. 

"Yo, guys, think we got some work to do." 

"I think you're right, Z," Peter says, patting him on the back as they head out from behind the partition towards their equipment. As Ray and Egon help each other on with their packs, Winston chucks his suit jacket and pulls his on. Peter pulls on his second strap, stumbling forward under the pack's weight. 

"I always hated this part of the business. Been a while since we used this stuff. Hope it still works," Peter says, pulling his proton gun. 

"Power cells have a half life of 5000 years," Egon tells him. 

"Well, no time for a bench test. Heat 'em up, boys," Ray says. Peter turns on his gun, filling the room with the familiar hum as the pack comes to life. 

"Doe…" 

"Rae…" Ray says with a smile as he turns his on. Egon flips his switch. 

"Egon…" Peter and Ray give Egon a look, and he gives them a smirk in return. Winston shakes head behind them. 

"You guys are nuts." The courtroom grows silent as the four of them look around for any sign of the spooks. Ray looks towards Egon who holds the PKE meter, but he shakes his head indicating no trace yet. Ray's eyes grow wide as he begins to feel his hair move at the suddenly increasing breeze within the room. The wings on the PKE move up to their full position, prompting Egon to put it back on the table and grab his positron rifle with both hands. 

Suddenly, two chairs from the back row of the spectators gallery come flying up as if being smacked aside, catching their attention. The next two chairs follow, then the next to, right down the line until they reach the railing. The Scoleris shoot up from the floor, letting out an inhuman roar. The Ghostbusters press the rifle triggers and begin blasting at them. But the ghosts move too fast, causing the proton streams to blast the walls and ceiling instead, leaving burns and small fires in their wake. The ghosts fly over them towards the back wall. They stop firing when they disappear through it. 

"Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" Peter shouts after them. He looks at the guys and begins to laugh mockingly. They stare at him for a second before Ray catches on to his plan and laughs with him, followed by Winston. Egon begins to make forced noises that could pass as laughing. Louis comes out from behind the partition, looking around curiously as Peter's laughing gets a bit more goofy. Not taking too kindly to being laughed at, the fat brother reappears in the courtroom, furious, and looking at Peter. 

"Oh shit!" Peter says, firing his proton stream up at the ghost as Louis dives back behind his cover, screaming. He moves out of the way as Peter's stream hits the wall, sending up a wave of sparks. Peter keeps firing, follow the ghost across the courtroom. "C'mon, big boy! C'mon! I'm gonna take you home to my Wanda Sue!" The ghost tries to maneuver, but Peter moves a step ahead of him and the proton stream wraps around the ghost, immobilizing him. 

"You got him! You got him!" Ray exclaims. He looks towards Egon. "Spengy, bring the trap!" 

"Okay, okay!" Egon says, turning for the table. Winston perks up as he notices the other brother coming through the wall and making a line straight for Ray. 

"Behind you, Ray!" he shouts, firing at the ghost. Ray ducks as both the beam and ghost miss him. He fires his beam after him, forcing Egon to duck as the ghost doges the beam allowing it to hit the partition and sending a wave of broken glass down on Wexler. Winston turns and fires, catching the other brother in his stream. 

"Hold him, Winston!" Egon says. "Start bringing him back, Venkman!" Peter starts to slowly move back towards the bench, the ghost in tow. 

"C'mon, big boy! That'sa boy!" Peter says. 

"Keep moving to the right, Winston!" Egon shouts as he throws the trap in between him and Peter. Peter and Winston position their ghosts right next to each other, and Ray joins in to give them extra support and control. "Okay, get ready, I'm opening the trap!" Egon drops the pedal onto the ground and stomps down on it. 

The trap doors open, emitting a column of brilliant light around the ghosts and forcing the Ghostbusters to stop blasting to look away. The ghosts begin to lose their coherent shapes as they're sucked down into the rectangular box. Once inside, the doors shut, sealing them in. The indicator lights flare up, showing that the trap is full and that the ghosts won't be getting out any time soon. They Ghostbusters gather around the trap, looking down at it happily. 

"Two in the box!" Ray says. 

"Ready to go!" Peter adds. 

"We be fast…" Winston starts. 

"And they be slow!" they all say together. Louis runs over to them and looks down at the trap. 

"Wow!" he exclaims, picking it up carefully. 

Outside the courtroom is a chaotic mess. Paramedics and police attend to the frightened gallery members while reporters struggle for a position in the cramped hallway to get the best story. They all turn towards the courtroom doors as they burst open, the Ghostbusters and Louis walking out of the decimated courtroom victoriously. Immediately, cameras begin flashing in their faces, and Peter realizes now's a good chance for some free publicity. 

"We're the best, we're the beautiful, we're the ONLY…Ghostbusters!" 

"We're back!" Ray adds excitedly.

* * *

**ALTERNATE LOUIS ENTERING THE MUSEUM**

Before I figured out how to expand on the Louis vs. Slimer scenes, I tried to give Louis more screentime as a wannabe Ghostbuster. So, I gave him his 15 minutes and had him show a different side of the nerd. Luckily, I figured out a better way to get him inside the museum.

* * *

Meanwhile, Louis paces back and forth outside, hands behind his back. He checks his watch; midnight draws closer. He looks up at the museum; no sign of anything other than the slime shell around it. He checks his watch one last time, then resolves its time for action. 

"It's taking too long…they need my help!" Louis runs to the back of Ecto-1 and opens the door. He reaches in and with some strain pulls out the rack with two proton packs still on it. He grabs his shirt and tears it open, revealing his uniform underneath. 

Moments later, Louis shuts the door, now fully armed with a proton pack, utility belt, and his trusty ear muffs. Louis takes a couple of steps and stumbles a bit. He stops, panting. 

"Damn, this equipment's heavy." He strengthens his resolve and forces himself over to the fire engine by the museum. "Excuse me, Ghostbusters! I need to get inside!" Louis tells the firemen standing by it. They give him the once over, trying to repress their laughter. Some have more luck at it than others. 

"Sorry, Tiny, but last time I checked there were FOUR of 'em, and all four are inside," one of them say. A couple of firemen behind him try to hold in their laughs. Louis glares at them, but gets an idea. He moves as quickly as he can to the generator setup in the middle of the square and fumbles with the walkman. He presses the play button, and once again "Higher and Higher" blasts over the various speakers all around. They firemen all migrate to either side of the truck to look at Louis and figure out what he's doing. 

Suddenly, all their eyes grow wide and they dive out of the way as a proton stream flies at the truck, blasting straight through the tank and sending its stored slime spewing out at the wall. Louis stands by the generator, using it to brace himself against the kickback of the blast as he holds his positron rifle out. He smirks, very proud of himself. The purple energy dances over the shell again as the slime pelts it, causing a hole to form in the shell. Louis heads over to the stairs just as the last of the slime spews out of the truck and the hole begins to close. 

He takes a deep breath and a gulp, and then runs up the stairs and through the hole. However, just before he makes it completely through, he slips on some positive slime on the stairs and falls flat on his face. He looks back as the shell threatens to close down on his leg still through it. He struggles as best as he can against the weight of the equipment and the slippery stairs, and just manages to pull through before the slime reforms around, or through, his leg. He breathes heavily, a little terrified already. 

"What the hell am I doing!" he asks himself.

* * *

**ALTERNATE LOUIS TO THE RESCUE**

  
I originally scripted this as Louis' big rescue scene, but decided it didn't play into the character as well as I wanted. But, it did provide the groundwork for the final cut used.

* * *

"Ray! Can you move?" Egon asks. 

"No…are you okay?" Ray asks back. 

"No. Venkman, how are you?" 

"I'm fine," Peter lies as he struggles to make his limbs work. Vigo looks at the desks in his way, and with a simple parting gesture they slide across the floor to expose Dana and Oscar. Dana stands up and slowly moves away, clutching Oscar tightly to her. Vigo raises his hand closed and upside-down. He quickly opens his fingers, sending Dana flying back into the wall with Oscar levitating in mid-air. He then begins to signal "come here" with his hand and Oscar floats over to him. Vigo takes him in his hands and holds him out, smiling as he turns back towards the center of the room. 

"No!" Dana shouts, struggling to move but finds herself stuck to the wall via and invisible force. "Please, do something!" she yells at the Ghostbusters. 

Out in the hallway, Louis breathes heavily. I have to help, he thinks, But how? He looks down at his slime covered clothing. He reaches up and opens his shirt a bit, exposing his make-shift Ghostbusters uniform underneath. He looks up, the determined look returning to his face. 

With all his might, Peter hops off his side, moving forward a bit. He puts all his energy into one last hop, looking up at Vigo. "Not so fast, Vigo! Hey! You! Yeah, the bimbo with the baby!" That gets Vigo's attention as he looks down at him, annoyed. "Anybody tell you the big shoulder look is out? Y'know, I have met some dumb blondes in my time, but you take the taco, pal." The guys all struggle to crane their necks, looking at Peter curiously. "Only a Carpathian would come back NOW and choose New York! Tasty pick, BONE HEAD!" Dana looks at him from across the room, wondering if he flipped his lid. "If you had brain one in that HUGE melon on top of your neck, you'd be living the sweet life in southern California's beautiful San Fernando Valley!" 

Vigo opens his mouth and a beam of energy flies out, dancing over their bodies. They convulse and spasm as pain rips through their every nerve ending, causing them to scream out in anguish. 

"Now we become one!" Vigo says in a demonic voice as he holds Oscar up above him. Oscar cries out in fear, but Vigo just smiles victoriously. Suddenly, Louis appears from behind the gates, his proton pack humming as he shakily aims the rifle at Vigo. 

"H-hold it, buddy!" he stammers. "I-I-I'm a G-G-Ghostbuster and not a-a-afraid to use this!" 

"No! You'll hit Oscar!" Dana calls from across the room. 

"Louis!" Winston shouts through the pain. "DUCK!" Louis looks at him curiously, then notices Vigo's mouth open. He dives as an energy burst flies over him. 

"L-Louis! The s-slime!" Ray forces out, shaking his slime blower. Louis grabs it and takes aim, pulling back the lever on it. The positive slime begins to spew out, hitting Vigo. Vigo roars as the positive energy takes away from his negatively charged energy. 

"He's weakening!" Egon exclaims as Vigo begins to writhe about. "The slime's taking away his energy!" 

Vigo looks at them angrily, just before Peter leaps up and snags Oscar from his hands. Before Vigo can retaliate, Winston and Ray both rush him, sending him flying back. 

Dana runs over to them, and Peter hands Oscar over to her. 

"Go find a shady spot," he says. He looks down at Louis on the floor, still clutching Ray's slime blower. Peter reaches down and picks him up, giving him the once over. "And you, watch them." 

"R-right…" Louis says, a little shell shocked. Dana grabs his arm and quickly leads him into the hallway through the blasted gate.

* * *

**ALTERNATE VIGO BATTLE**

  
More moments of indecision. In my earlier drafts, I had played out the Vigo battle closely to the original movie before I finally found my legs and decided to get as far away as possible.

* * *

With all his might, Peter hops off his side, moving forward a bit. He puts all his energy into one last hop, looking up at Vigo. "Not so fast, Vigo! Hey! You! Yeah, the bimbo with the baby!" That gets Vigo's attention as he looks down at him, annoyed. "Anybody tell you the big shoulder look is out? Y'know, I have met some dumb blondes in my time, but you take the taco, pal." The guys all struggle to crane their necks, looking at Peter curiously. "Only a Carpathian would come back NOW and choose New York! Tasty pick, BONE HEAD!" Dana looks at him from across the room, wondering if he flipped his lid. "If you had brain one in that HUGE melon on top of your neck, you'd be living the sweet life in southern California's beautiful San Fernando Valley!" 

Vigo opens his mouth and a beam of energy flies out, dancing over their bodies. They convulse and spasm as pain rips through their every nerve ending, causing them to scream out in anguish. 

"**Now we become one!**" Vigo says in a demonic voice as he holds Oscar up above him. Oscar cries out in fear, but Vigo just smiles victoriously. 

Suddenly, it fades and he tilts his head as if he's listening to something. He roars and thrusts his head to the side as if someone had just hit him extremely hard. The Ghostbusters stop shaking as the pain begins to subside. They all look at him curiously, struggling to hear what he hears. 

"Where's that singing coming from?" Ray asks, hearing the faintest tune from somewhere nearby. Egon looks across the room to see a piece from their blasting the door had shattered a window slightly where the sounds seem to be coming from. 

"The people outside!" 

"It must be Midnight!" Winston exclaims. Outside, the crowd outside of the museum sways as they sing the traditional "Aud Lang Syne" in unison, marking the change from the year 1989 to the year 1990. The slime shell around the museum pulsates, fading a bit in color. 

"He's weakening!" Egon exclaims as Vigo begins to shake more violently. "The singing's neutralizing the slime!" 

"I can move!" Ray states as the Ghostbusters begin to scramble to their feet. 

Vigo begins to shake faster and faster, disappearing in a blur of motion. Suddenly, he releases his hold on Oscar, letting him fall quickly to the ground. Peter quickly scurries under and catches the kid just before he hits the floor, cradling him safely. He gets to his feet as Dana rushes over to them. He quickly hands him off to her. 

"Go find a shady spot," he says. 

"He's back in the painting!" Egon exclaims. They all turn towards the painting where Vigo stands once again, clenching his face. The background has turned into a purple and pink swirling mess of spectral energy. Vigo raises his heads from his hands, but no longer resembles his old self. Vigo's head stops shifting and he looks out at the Ghostbusters, letting out an inhuman roar as they gaze upon his change. His forehead is more sloped and his skin has more texture than the average humans'. Small horns protrude from the top of his head while his eyes are solemn black with bloodshot pupils. 

"Woah, I thought he was ugly before…" Winston mutters. Ray looks up at Vigo and their eyes lock. Vigo sends out his silent commands into Ray's head as Ray's mouth drops open, the dumb look from the other day returning to his face. 

"Viggy, Viggy, Viggy! You have been a bad little monkey!" Peter says, turning back to the room and grabbing his gun. Ray steps up to the painting, dumbly looking into it. 

"Uh, Ray, could you step aside please we'd like to shoot the monster?" Egon asks. 

"Ray." 

"Ray!" 

"RAY!" Ray turns around, except he's no longer Ray Stantz; instead, the Ghostbusters gasp as they're greeted by the sight of Vigo's demonic head on Ray's body, his eyes full of hate as he looks at them. 

"**Now I, Ray and Vigo, and shall rule the Earth! Be gone, you pitiful half-men!**"

* * *


End file.
